I Hope They Remember You
by SpindlyWhale410
Summary: The Avengers were not the only ones to suffer devastating losses at the end of Infinity War. How did other worlds in the universe react as the Mad Titan delivered on his promise? One-shot series! MAJOR Infinity War spoiler! Post KHIII.
1. Twilight Town

**Warning: If you haven't watched Infinity War already, then I recommend you watch it first. Because the plot point of the one-shot is heavily influenced by the film.**

A month or two had passed since the defeat of Xehanort and his "True" Organization XIII.

Now that things had finally settled down, everything was how it should be.

Once a Nobody who was fated to tragedy, grief, and despair, Roxas was now his own person.

When Sora freed him using the Key to Return Hearts, it was a surreal moment of his life.

No longer bound to his Somebody, Roxas was able to think and feel for himself.

He did not react to certain remarks with quotes that Sora would use.

And he had his own share of memories unrelated to Sora's.

In his own views, it felt like a bird finally being set loose of its cage, ready to take on the world, by its own.

And then his eyes glanced to his friends sitting beside him atop the Clock Tower.

Tried as he might, Roxas had to admit the one character he and Sora would forever share.

He remembered that with his friends by his side, he could accomplish almost anything.

With Lea, Naminé, and Xion, they could go on adventures of their own, see the worlds that the universe had to offer.

And seeing Naminé and Xion at his side, pure flesh and blood, it made him even more grateful to Sora who too had gave them a life of their own.

For now however, the four were currently residing in Twilight Town, obviously to shake off the events of last month, as well as to spend some quality time together.

"Man oh man, nothing satisfies this ol' heart of mine than some sea-salt ice cream!" Lea exclaimed happily as he took another lick of his ice cream.

Xion looked at him with a playful frown, "Lea, you already said that like, a million times before."

Lea grinned, "Well, gotta keep you guys memorized and all that."

"Oh, and you're using catchphrase too?" Roxas said with folded arms, "I think it's getting old."

"Nonsense!" Lea stated with a wave of his free hand, "I don't think my friends are tired of it!"

To which both Roxas and Xion merely shook their heads, "No."

Making a pouty face, Lea turned to Naminé who was the only one not eating ice cream like the rest of them.

Her focus was solely on her drawing in her sketchbook.

Lea was about to ask for her comments about his signature, but then he noticed what she was drawing.

"Well, whatcha' working on there, Naminé?" he asked her curiously.

She looked up at him with a cheerful smile on her face, and then she held up the drawing for him to see.

Lea stared at it for a silent moment, and then Roxas and Xion became curious.

Noticing this, Lea smile warmly and passed it on to the two.

As they saw the drawing, Roxas and Xion glanced at one another, and Xion said, "Naminé..."

"Yes?" Naminé asked. "This drawing..." Roxas commented softly, "It's beautiful..."

And he was truthful in his statement.

The drawing was a depiction of the big family that Sora had created throughout this entire adventure.

Xion, Naminé and Lea standing off to the left.

Terra, Ventus and Aqua standing to the right.

And in the middle, Riku, Kairi, and the one person who connects them all.

Just then, they heard as Naminé gasped out in terror, her eyes suddenly as wide as saucers.

"What's wrong?" Xion asked her, quickly concerned with the abrupt change in behavior.

With a gasp, Naminé gazed out into the horizon and muttered out, "S-Something... has happened..."

She looked back to the other three, "Something terrible..."

Lea raised an alarmed eyebrow at this, "Terrible? What do you mean?"

"If Xehanort had come up with a Plan C, I'm gonna–" Roxas started growling out, but Naminé cuts him off.

"No... not Xehanort... All around... I c-can sense..."

Suddenly, they heard a scream of grief coming from down below.

The four quickly looked downwards, to catch sight of a familiar figure standing right below them.

"Is that...?" Roxas muttered out loud. He looked to his friends, "C'mon! We gotta get down there!"

He was the first one to race back down to the ground level, with his friends close at his heels.

As soon as he arrived outside the entrance, he caught sight of the person.

She was presently on her knees, before what appeared to be a pile of dust which was slowly being swept away by the wind.

But he immediately recognised her by her hairstyle and her orange singlet.

"Olette?!" he called out to her as Lea, Naminé and Xion finally arrived behind him.

Upon hearing his voice, Olette slowly turned her head, and the four could see the shock and fear in those usually cheerful green eyes.

"R-Roxas..." she greeted out in an almost, broken yet terrified voice.

Roxas slowly started to approach her, as did Lea. "What happened?" he asked her slowly, "Where's Hayner and Pence?"

Lea noticed the girl wince slightly at the mentioning of her two best friends.

And then she started turning back to the pile before her, and he slowly began to paint the bigger picture.

Slowly, Olette gently picked up some of the dirty soot in her hands and held it aloft for the others to see.

Only that when Roxas and Lea had a closer look, they realized that it wasn't dust at all.

"Is that..." Lea muttered softly, and he slowly started to become terror-stricken.

As Roxas slowly arrived at the same conclusion as Lea, they suddenly heard Xion call out from behind them.

"R-Roxas... Lea!" she cried out in a fearful voice.

As Roxas, Lea, Naminé and Olette looked back, they were completely surprised by what they were witnessing.

Xion was staring at her right hand as it was slowly crumbling away into nothing but ash.

And then quickly, the rest of her body started to disintegrate away.

She looked back up to the others with a look of fright and horror, and Roxas quickly rushed towards her.

"Xion!" he cried out and he reached out to embrace her as she collapsed.

But when he made contact with her, what remained of her normal self disappeared in an explosion of ash.

As it happened, Lea was rendered speechless, Naminé was gasping with horror, and Olette was on her feet, equally as grief-stricken as Naminé was.

As the ash was carried off into the wind, Roxas stared down at the small bits of what remained of one of his closest friends, until they too flew out of his grip.

And even as they were gone, Roxas still remained there, still unable to comprehend what had just taken place.

He could not believe this. Xion. Was. Gone. Again.

And just when she was starting to get used to her new life as a Somebody, some unknown force had to take her away again.

Slowly, he lowered his hands to his sides, and his headed titled downwards to face the ground.

Naminé who was closest to him, could hear the silent sobs, could see the first tear rolling down his cheek, could see his fists clenched and trembling.

It pained her to see him once more in this sorry state.

No one had a more positive effect on him than Xion.

Even as a puppet, Naminé could see that Xion acted just like a regular Nobody.

And because both of them once upon a time were closely linked to Sora, they had an intimate brother-sister relationship.

It broke him just to see Xion die before, and that same feeling was coming back again.

With a scream of rage, Roxas lifted his head up high, and sent his voice all the way up to the heavens.

"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TAKE HER WAY AGAIN?!" he cried out at the top of his lungs.

At that point, he allowed the tears to flow freely, and he buried his face into his palms.

But as Naminé slowly approached to comfort him, her eyes slowly widened as she caught sight of ash flying out from under his white jacket.

"Roxas!" she cried out with a gasp, "You're fading away too!"

As Roxas slowly lowered his hands to inspect himself, Lea and Olette were crying out his name in horror once they too saw the ash.

At first, Roxas looked terrified by this, but then his expression slowly turned sullen, and dreadfully... calm.

His resigned blue eyes met her horrified ones, and he slowly let out a smile.

Naminé was almost tempted to just slap him in the face there and now.

How could the jerk be actually smiling at the point of death?

"Na...mi...né..." he croaked out weakly, and he held out one hand to her face as he was almost gone.

Naminé remained speechless as she felt his soft hand caress her cheek, before it along the rest of his body dissolved into nothing but ash.

She watched as the ash flew off into the sky, unaware of a single tear rolling down her cheek.

At the same time, Lea was yelling his head off, "ROXAS, YA FREAKIN' ZOMBIE! GET BACK HERE! DO YA HEAR ME?! COME BACK!"

Behind him, Olette was muttering a silent prayer, "May both you and Xion finally find peace in the afterlife..."

And then, they slowly heard the rest of Twilight Town stirring to life.

The choruses of screams and cries rang across the sky like a bell, and plumes of ash were slowly scattering across the town from a few dozen areas.

Market Street. Station Heights. The Sandlot. They were hotspot locations.

Now almost to the point of breaking down, Naminé dropped her sketchbook and ran over to Lea.

She wrapped her arms around him tightly and buried her face into his black coat.

"L-Lea..." she mumbled out, "Why is this happening...?"

Lea remained silent as he wrapped his arms around the grief-stricken girl.

"Nothing like this was foretold..." Olette croaked out sombrely, as she stared at the ash, "Not in storybooks, not in prophecies... Not in anything..."

Lea continued to remain silent as he resumed staring at the town, as true terror and chaos began to arouse.

For once in his life, he had no joke to give, no laughter to bring to the table.

For he knew, that this may truly be the end of the world.

 ****

 **Okay actually, it's not REALLY a story. Just an experiment one-shot. I may or may not add on to this considering how much imagination I have with regards to it.**


	2. Radiant Garden

**Yup! I have decided to continue this one-shot series! For Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy fans who love these characters to the core, I can only offer this advice: Read at your own risk!**

 **So without further ado, let the clusterfuck commence!**

* * *

"And so with regards to the plans for the town that I explained yesterday, all that is required now is your seal of approval, my Lordship."

The brows of Ansem the Wise furrowed as he re-examined the proposed plans that his new lead scientist Ienzo had crafted out to redevelop Radiant Gardens' infrastructure.

It was not too long ago that his beloved world had been overrun with evil entities. Maleficent being a prime example. And Xehanort being another.

And now that he was back in his rightful seat of power, back from that damning Realm of Darkness, the burden was on him to regain the trust of his people.

After all, Xehanort was the one who had impersonated him for a decade, and from what Ienzo had shared with him, his treatment of the populace was beyond criminal.

Thus, he now hoped that this infrastructure plan would be the first step in rebuilding his good reputation.

Of course, he would also have to work closely with the Restoration Committee (he was surprised this world even had one for who-knows-how-long), with one of its prime members also present in of his office.

Turning his gaze over to the Committee member, he asked, "And what do you think of the plans, Leonhart?"

The brown-hair furrowed a brow at the mentioning of his surname, and from his place leaning against a wall, Leon glanced over to Ienzo.

"I understand that you mean well, Ienzo," he spoke up in an even tone towards the scientist, "But I still feel that the town is not ready for such an ambitious policy."

Ienzo tilted his head in curiosity, "Oh? And what brought you to that conclusion?"

"Since the Heartless incursion, there have been a shortage of resources and supplies," Leon stated, "And from what the Committee has been gathering, the factories and warehouses that store Radiant Garden's raw materials and trading goods from neighbouring towns are comprehensibly trashed, beyond repair."

Ansem stroked his chin thoughtfully at this, "Indeed... And furthermore, the finite resources that were available were being distributed amongst the populace when the Heartless still roamed these grounds."

Ienzo nodded his head in understanding of the roadblocks, "Well in that case, I believe it maybe wise to contact with other towns in the region. Hopefully, they have not been as affected by the Heartless as we were."

"It could take a while," Leon said, "Thanks to Xehanort, most of our main modes of communication to the outside have been cut off. Perhaps we should consider –"

The door slammed open all of a sudden, causing all three men to jump slightly.

Stepping inside as they panted breathlessly were Aeleus and Dilan, both former members of Xemnas' Organization, and once more Ansem's personal guards after he had forgiven them.

They recollected what breath they could muster, and they performed a small bow before their Lord.

"My Lordship, we bring terrible news from the town!" Dilan proclaimed. Leon heard the urgency in his voice, and suspected that something was up.

"Then voice it before me," Ansem said with a curt nod, "As quick as you are able."

"It's the populace, sire," Aeleus reported, "We started hearing screams ringing out from every branch. And then we started seeing ash."

Leon's eyes narrowed, "Ash?"

Aeleus turned to him and nodded, "It's just came up out of nowhere. Starting to blanket the streets and buildings in soot. We've seen nothing like it before."

Before anyone could react, Leon was immediately out the door, the only sounds were heard down the hallway were his stomping boots.

Ienzo looked back to Ansem, "Could it be the Heartless, sire?"

Ansem's lips pursed grimly, "It should not be possible, considering that the Chosen One banished all of them back to the Realm of Darkness. But we must not take any chances."

He rose up from his desk, and began marching towards the door.

Ienzo, Aeleus and Dilan were surprised by this motion and quickly they followed closely behind.

After a dozen of twists and turns around the castle's maze-like halls, they arrived at main entrance, where Leon was staring transfixed at the town.

From there, Ansem and the others could get a clear view of the clouds of ash that was scattering across the streets and flowing off into the sky.

While the Lord himself maintained his grim expression, Ienzo, Aeleus and Dilan joined Leon in looking appalled in what they were seeing.

They could make out an elderly person on a wheelchair disintegrating into ash.

A teenage girl tearfully hugging her parents as she disappeared.

A baby wailing and crying as his widowed mother watched her only family she had left, disintegrate before her eyes.

Leon maintained contact of the horrific events playing out, as he activated his commlink on his left ear.

As soon as it locked onto the Committee's frequency, he shouted loudly, "Leon to Committee! Does anyone hear me?!"

He walked a few steps forwards, the other four looking on from behind.

"Committee! We've got a situation in the town! This is a Code Red! Code Red!" Leon continued to holler into his commlink, to the other members.

Much to his surprise, he received no response, only static silence.

"Committee, COME IN!" he yelled even louder this time, more than what he was used to, "Cid?! Aerith?! Does anyone READ ME?! Yuffie?!"

 _"...reat Ninja Yu–... ...eon, I come in!"_ Yuffie's voice reported in, _"What the heck's going on?!"_

He almost let out a sigh of relief, but Leon forced himself to stay focused.

 _"Yuffie, there's something going on in town, something terrible,"_ he said.

 _"Y-Yeah... I'm seeing it first-hand..."_ Yuffie sounded traumatised. _"M-My God... the children, t-they're..."_

"Calm down and listen to me carefully," Leon instructed her as calmly as he could, "I need you to return to HQ immediately and rendezvous with Cid and Aerith! Tell them that this is a Code Red! I'll be there as soon as I can!"

There was a moment of silence before Yuffie shakily responded, _"U-Um... right... I'm on the scene, c-cool..."_

As he switched off his commlink, Leon heard Ienzo exclaiming from behind him, "By Bahamut... Dilan!"

Leon turned around to see what was going on, and what happened next would stick with him forever.

Dilan exclaimed in surprised as he felt his right way give way into an explosion of ash.

Aeleus quickly caught him and watched in shock as his friend's body quickly disintegrated away.

Dilan who was equally as terrified, could only mutter out, "W-What devilry... is this...?"

With one last gasp of air, Dilan dispersed into a cloud of ash.

With a sigh of defeat, Aeleus mournfully lowered his head, in a gesture of respect and farewell to his colleague.

A moment of silence followed, before it was broken by the sound of Leon bolting off down to the town.

Seeing the man's exit, Ansem said boldly to Ienzo and Aeleus, "Come. We must personally see to this matter."

As the leader of the town began making his way off, Ienzo stayed behind momentarily to share a brief glance with Aeleus.

After looking down at the pile of ash, a heart-wrenching reminder of his friend, one last time Aeleus looked back and nodded his head grimly.

Meanwhile up ahead, as he continued to follow after Leon, Ansem could not help but feel a bit of wonderment for the man.

If he remembered correctly, Leon was once a kitchen boy working in the castle.

And now, here was the boy again, but now this time more matured, strong, and a leader in his own right.

Ansem had to make a mental note to reward Leon and the Committee for all they had done for the town.

Leon's boots stomped hard against the ash-polluted streets as he arrived at the Committee's main base of operations.

Not too long ago, it was Merlin's place of residence in Radiant Garden, but ever since Xehanort's defeat, the old sorcerer had decided retire to an unknown world.

With the house left behind in the Committee's care, it was not long before the team (especially Yuffie) took full advantage of the space given to them.

Yuffie had thousands upon thousands of ideas of how the interior design would be like, but while Aerith was okay with less than a quarter of them, Leon and Cid shot down every single one of them.

To her annoyance, both of them mused that it would have made the house look more like a reserved place for hosting children's birthday parties.

But the ninja went on ahead anyway, and snuck in a couple of Chocobo designs into the wall paintings.

Leon quickly shook off those happy thoughts. He knew it was not a time for positive thinking, considering the number of innocent lives disintegrating as a drastic rate.

Quickly arriving at the front door, he noticed it was left ajar. Which meant that Yuffie was already inside.

But before he could step inside however, his suddenly picked up a faint sound coming from within.

Try as he might, he could not make out what it really was since is was barely audible.

Leon quickly pushed the door open and brisked inside.

All around the living room, everything looked as normal as they should be, books, tables, Cid's computer and all.

But what he noticed was that its primary occupants, Aerith and Cid, were not around as they had been when he left earlier.

And then his eyes caught sight of Yuffie who was on her knees, close to the fireplace.

Apparently she was looking downwards at something. Something dark and sooty.

Leon felt his heart drop a little as he slowly approached the ninja.

As he got closer, the faint sound he heard earlier became clearer, until he slowly realised that it was sobbing.

"Why is Yuffie crying?" he wondered to himself in thought, "Could it be that...?"

No... no... it could not be possible!

As though she had heard him, Yuffie slowly turned to face Leon, who could see the tears freely flowing from her traumatized eyes.

"L-Leon..." she croaked out and she rubbed off some mucus from her nose.

Leon bended down to her level, and gently gripped at her arms.

"Where are Aerith and Cid?" he asked softly.

Yuffie stared at him for a long moment as though she had not heard him, but then she lifted up something she apparently held in her hands.

Leon was shocked to see a familiar-looking red ribbon.

"Aerith's right here..." Yuffie mumbled with a sob, "And Cid's still sitting at his computer."

Leon allowed the horror to overcome him, as he moved on over to inspect Cid's computer table.

The computer itself was still in pristine condition, but its user was obviously not at the chair.

In his place however, was a pile of ash which was littered all over the seat and around the chair.

In silence, Leon knelt down to one knee and scooped up a bit of the ash from the ground.

As he stared at it atop his open palm, Leon founded it hard to believe that this was part of what Cid used to be.

It was also ironic, considering that he had always thought Cid would die working at his computer.

And then he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to Yuffie sadly smiling down at him.

Behind them, Ansem, Ienzo and Aeleus had just arrived, and they were observing the interior of the Committee's headquarters.

When he spotted the two piles of ash, the Lord of Radiant Garden could not help but feel sorry for Leon and that other girl Yuffie.

The Committee had sacrificed so much and worked too hard just to get the town up and running again, and he would make sure that deaths of the other pair would not be in vain.

He motioned for Ienzo and Aeleus to follow him back outside, and there he began to carry out his orders.

"Aeleus," he said to his remaining personal guard, "I need you and whatever men we have left to mobilise the townsfolk. A headcount is necessary to address our current situation."

Saluting back crisply, Aeleus turned and quickly ran back to the castle.

He then turned to Ienzo, "I'm afraid that your infrastructure plans have to be cancelled indefinitely. This may very well be a global crisis."

Ienzo nodded back, "I understand, sire. This was just all too sudden."

Both of them then looked back to Leon and Yuffie, whom were both hugging each other tightly.

* * *

"So that's it then..." Leon mumbled as he addressed the others back in Ansem's study, "This is the end..."

""The end" would be overstating," Aeleus stated, "If this event was affective against a total population, we would have been nothing but ash by now. Perhaps some of us were immune to this unknown plague."

"Except it wasn't," Ienzo spoke up with a grim tone, "From what I could gather, the death toll includes a number of notable and normal figures. Rich, middle and poor. Radicals, conservatives and fundamentalists. This 'plague' as you simply put it, is more likely killing off individuals at random."

He stroked his chin as he continued to dwell on the report Aeleus had given him.

The official population estimate was not looking good.

"257,839 individuals unaccounted for... it's similar to the death toll..." he muttered as he looked at the rest, "That's half the population killed off in an instant."

"Even so..." Ansem called for their attention, "We must not falter to despair."

He closed his eyes tightly, "Radiant Garden was tested once before, when evil beings threatened to overrun its people with all manner of creatures."

Leon noticed as Ienzo and Aeleus visibly flinched a little, as though they were recalling an unpleasant moment in the past.

Ansem's brows were also furrowed, for he knew that he had played a terrible role in construction that foundation for terror.

"But that is all in the past now," he continued and he reopened his eyes, "And regardless of what misgivings we had before, we must learn from it and move on from there."

He rose from his seat, "Radiant Garden was built as a city of light, a place where ever man, woman and child lives in peace and harmony. And with this newest threat endangering us to the possibility of extinction, we are now put through this greatest test in possibly the town's history. Through every trial and tribulation, our people will survive this cataclysm. We will not fade into the pages of history as mere simple people; we will make it through and survive!"

Ansem then turned to Leon, "And with your help, Squall Leonhart, I am certain we will be able to face down this threat without any fear or doubt."

At first, Leon felt that drive to correct him on his name again. But then he paused and had a moment of clarity.

This event was familiar to the first time that Radiant Garden fell to Maleficent.

On both counts he was forced to watch helplessly as innocents got caught in the crossfire.

But no longer, for he knew that even in death, Aerith and Cid would both be counting on him and Yuffie to keep the Committee alive.

And with that, with motivation and resolve in his eyes, Squall nodded back in agreeance.

Leon was dead and buried. Squall was reborn once more.

Smiling, Ansem turned to Ienzo, "Now, how do you propose we proceed?"

"Analysing our current situation," Ienzo stated, "We have little to no resource to support affected elderly that have lost their children, and children that have become orphaned. Our only option at this point would be to request aid from our neighbours."

"And which ones would be the closest?" Ansem inquired.

Ienzo's eyes furrowed as he stared at the world map pinned atop the wall closest to him.

"Bodhum is 45km due West, while the Lucian capital of Insomnia is 68km due East," he reported, "While it could take a few hours to reach them, they are probably our best chances at requesting for help."

"But that leaves the problem of getting to them," Aeleus reminded, "And of course, the Veldt is on the way to Insomnia. From what I've heard, anyone that travels through there unescorted... never makes it out alive to tell the tale."

At this, Ienzo fell silent as he digested that important piece of intel.

And then Squall spoke up, "Maybe we don't have to travel on land."

Ansem's interest peeked at this, "What do you mean by that?"

"During my time as a kitchen boy, I've always taken curious peeks inside Professor Even's labs," Squall explained, "And then one peculiar-looking map caught my eyes. It mentioned something about underground tunnels connecting Radiant Garden to other settlements."

Ienzo's eyes widened a little, "You know about that?"

Squall smirked coyly, "What can I say? The unknown always fascinated me."

"Then we shall use these tunnels to reach our neighbours," Ansem declared.

"But there is a complication involved," Ienzo stated, "If Leonhart's observation is correct, then it stands to reason that my teacher took the map away with him as well when he retired. And that leaves us finding these tunnels like needles in a giant haystack."

Ansem nodded with understanding, "And would you know of your teacher's current whereabouts?"

Ienzo shook his head, "Unfortunately, Professor Even and I have not spoken to one another for a month now. And when I attempted to visit him, I founded that his home was vacant."

"Then we shall make finding Even our highest priority," Aeleus stated, "Retrieving that map is vital to reaching our neighbours from across the region."

Ansem nodded and then looked back to Squall.

"I understand that this too soon to ask but..." he spoke out solemnly, "Would you and your friend help us in finding Professor Even?"

Without any hesitation, Squall nodded back his response.

But then he added in, "With your permission, I would like to make a request."

Ansem's silence and his curious raised eyebrow prompted him to continue.

"I would like to recruit one your prisoners from the dungeons," he said specifically, "He wishes to atone for all the things he has done, I think this is as good as any opportunity."

Immediately knowing with Squall was referring to, Ansem quickly nodded his head, "Then let it be done. Go now, and may the Gods be with you."

Nodding back, Squall quickly exited the study, and made his way over to Yuffie who was standing away a short distance from the study.

Seeing her, Squall began speaking, "Yuffie, I understand if –"

An index finger to his lips cut him off in surprise, and then he saw the ninja giving him her usual determined look.

"I know what you're gonna say," she stated, "And I want in. As much as I hate to admit it, Ansem's quite the motivative speaker."

Squall chuckled, "Like the "Ninja's Peppy Pep" you gave us during the Heartless War?"

Yuffie was taken aback by this, and she had the gaping mouth to display her feelings.

"Leon? Having a sense of humour? Now this I haven't seen before in my life!" she exclaimed.

He laughed with a shake of his head, "Please... it's Squall..."

The ninja became much more surprised, but then she settled into a heart-warming grin.

Squall knew she was happy to see him using his old name again, and Aerith would have been happy too.

He gestured for her to follow, and she happily began skipping behind him like a little girl.

"So... what are we doing, Captain?" she asked him.

"Long story short, we're going to get help from Radiant Garden's outside neighbours," Squall stated, "And the first step is to retrieving an important map from Professor Even."

Yuffie tilted her head slightly, "I thought he was retired?"

"Exactly why we're on the clock," Squall replied grimly, "Thousands of lives are depending on us to succeed."

Soon, the pair had arrived in the dungeons, and as they walked past the cells, Squall chanced a quick glance at one particular cell.

The one which had a pile of ash on the ground, and an eyepatch resting on the bed mattress.

"At least there's some justice in all this..." he thought to himself as he and Yuffie moved onwards.

Eventually they arrived at the cell which contained the person they were looking for.

Squall inspected it to make sure that he too had not been turned to ashes. He was relieved that he did not see anything.

The person was clearly within the shadows, sitting against a corner, and when he saw them at the metal doors he acknowledged with a hum.

"Nice to see you again," he greeted as warmly as he could.

"Feeling's mutual," Yuffie responded cheerfully.

The person got onto his feet and commented, "I had a feeling you would come here, when all of the prisoners started disintegrating."

Squall nodded his head with pursed lips, "Something terrible has happened. About half of the town is gone."

The person nodded, "I watched everything from the window. But I thought there were two more in your Committee?"

Squall and Yuffie glanced at other longingly before looking to him.

"They're... a part of the death toll," was Leon's brief reply.

The person fell silent for a short while before he muttered out, "My deepest condolences."

As Squall nodded his head in acceptance, Yuffie started to go through the plan with him.

"Right now, the remaining half of the populace is starving, in need of resources and aid. But as we stand, Radiant Garden is sorely lacking in all of 'em. So now we are need of our neighbours to come and help, but in order for that to happen we have to go over to them and request for their aid. But there's also a roadblock: most of our modes of transportation and communication were destroyed when both Xehanort and Maleficent were around."

"I see..." the person muttered in understanding, "So where do I come in, in all of this?"

"From what Professor Ienzo was explaining, his teacher had a map pertaining to hidden tunnels under Radiant Garden that connect us to the other settlements," Squall added on, "If we can track him down and retrieve the map, we can quickly make our over to the neighbouring towns and request for their help. Now Ansem has granted me full authority over the search, and he has allowed me to recruit one more person from the dungeons to help."

The person slowly nodded his head as he took all of this information in, "Well, in that case... then you can –"

"Ah, there you are!" Ienzo called out as he arrived next to Squall and Yuffie.

"And what brings you here, Mr. BookNerd?" Yuffie asked him with a taunting smile, "Wanna join us in searching for your teacher too?"

Ienzo frowned at her for that remark. "Hilarious..." he muttered, "But as much as I would love to help you, I'm afraid His Lordship has tasked me with mobilising the emissary convoys for the trips to Bodhum and Lucis. I'm only here to give you this, it should give you a clue as to where to begin your search."

Squall squinted his eyes at a piece of note that Ienzo had just given him. Yuffie tiptoed a little to take a good look at the details.

Ienzo glanced to the person in the cell, and then he remembered something.

"Oh, and of course you can't just come here and recruit your member without freeing him, can't you?" he stated, and he handed Squall the keys to the cell.

With a curt nod of good luck, Ienzo vacated the dungeons briskly, leaving Squall to step forwards to unlock the cell doors.

"This is your one chance to repent all of your wrongdoings," he told the person, "Prove to me that you're going to take it."

He opened the doors and waited patiently for the person to step forth.

At first, he remained still before slowly, he emerged out of shadows to expose the colours of his long, blue hair.

With hard, determined green eyes of resolve, Isa replied back, "Where do we begin the search?"

* * *

 **So for this one, I have taken the liberty to expand on the world Radiant Garden is in, since it was described as the Final Fantasy world in Kingdom Hearts. If you recognize any of the locations referenced in this chapter, kudos to you!**

 **As for Sora, Riku and Kairi... we won't be seeing them yet.**

 **To leave off, here's a clue to which world the one-shot series will be visiting next:**

 ** _That power is yet unknown_**


	3. Shibuya

**Alright, the next chapter's up and running! This location is much closer to home compared to the first two.**

 **But before we get right to the action, I would like to address some of the confusion/suggestions that have been brought up:**

 **titan616: I understand your confusion. My perspective would be that Radiant Garden would have lost its ability to be self-sufficient when Maleficent took over. For all that time after the Restoration Committee took over, most of the resources would have to be traded with outside sources. Yet even that would be logically restricted (thanks to the Heartless still roaming around that that time). And considering that this takes place after Kingdom Hearts 3 (which is not long after KHII), it would still be struggling to expand on its trading network beyond the borders, considering that it would take some time for every aspect of society to be restored. So I hope this piece of information clears up whatever confusion you have.**

 **make3zons: My take on the Kingdom Hearts universe would be that the worlds while close as they are in the games, are probably in fact light years apart - as in the realms they reside in are in fact galaxies scattered across different parts of the universe. Also to note, Thanos was mentioned to have commenced his collection of the stones not long before Infinity War begins. Although he had been ascertaining the locations of the stones for years, it would probably not be noticed by the main characters of Kingdom Hearts, considering their attention towards the direct threat of Master Xehanort. However, it is important to note that Kingdom Hearts as a franchise is equally as confusing as it is vast, so its lore is constantly up to multiple interpretations.**

 **HeartofFyrwinde: Thanks for your suggestion. As interesting and exciting as it is to always bring in favourite characters into the story, the consideration must always be made whether or not those characters can actually fit in and serve a purpose for furthering the plot. But yeah! I may or may not consider bringing Final Fantasy characters not introduced in Kingdom Hearts, into this one-shot series or any other Kingdom Hearts stories I write, but we shall see.**

 **Greggreg: It is understandable to see that many fans have been waiting impatiently for Kingdom Hearts III to come out. And because of the long wait, fans that are writers are always itching to get their hands on the computer just to type out the possible outcomes during or after the events of the upcoming game. As I understand, the game is slated to be released at the end of the year. But until then, there will still be those who wish to write their own takes of what happens during that game. For that, I respect the creativity and imaginations that come out of those fanfics.**

 **Whew! That was a mouthful! And with that aside, enjoy this next chapter!**

* * *

With a tired yawn, Neku Sakuraba continued to stare lamely at the other kids as they continued to party on without him.

All around him, he saw as countless students from his school (a majority were girls) were doing everything outgoing kids would normally do during a party.

Chatting. Dancing. Singing. Laughing. He also caught sight of a couple of them downing alcoholic beverage, even though they were not legally of age yet.

But he on the other hand was different.

Neku had to admit to one truth: it was hard trying to become part of the crowd again.

The problem partially stemmed from his years of isolation from everyone else, ever since that fateful incident that changed his life.

And every now and then, he still flinched at even the slightest thought it.

Slowly but surely, Neku was coming to terms with it, to listen to that little voice in his head.

It was speaking to him and saying, "Your pal wouldn't have blamed you; he would've blamed that "really bad driver"."

To top it all off, that voice sounded a lot like his dead friend, as though his spirit still lived inside of his heart.

Which would not be a bad thing, considering that Neku's pal had always been the joking type.

Neku could not help but let out a little smile and he muttered, "Oh Akiara... you're always good for a laugh."

His eyes glanced back to his phone, and the smile quickly disappeared.

Apparently there was now breaking news about something that happened in New York.

And then the images displayed debris scattering roads, cars destroyed and overturned, and buildings partially chipped into.

But he was not impressed by the damage. In fact, he was quite used to it by now.

Ever since the alien attack upon that exact same city years ago, and his adventures in the Underground some time ago, he had pretty much seen everything.

After all, he had survived the Reaper's Game as well as a non-stop onslaught of Noise.

And he had been transported to another world, rubbing shoulders with a guy in a black coat and Dream Eaters.

He also could not forget that guy in the black coat, the Dream Eaters, and the boy who wielded a key-shaped sword.

"Hey, Neku!" a familiar female suddenly called out to him.

Cutting him out of his thoughts was the one person he had bonded with the most since Akiara died.

She hopped to a stop in front of him, and she held up her smartphone up to his eye level.

"Did you read the news?!" she exclaimed, "There was an alien attack in New York!"

Neku raised an eyebrow, "So you heard it too, Shiki?"

He held up his phone, showing the article that was just published.

Shiki titled her head at this, "Huh... you're quick."

Neku shrugged plainly at this, and then took notice of the rest that were gossiping all of a sudden.

His eyes then traced over the phones that were out of their pockets.

"I take it you became a voluntary party crier?" he asked her.

Shiki shook her head, "Eri's taking care of that."

She nodded in the direction of the red-head, who was busy hollering out loud atop the dining table, "Aliens are attacking again! I tell you! We're on the brink of being conquered!"

Neku never understood how lively Eri could really get.

Of course Shiki had mentioned before he met her friend that she had tendencies of becoming erratic whenever something bad happened.

"Poor Eri," he remarked, "She must be thinking Star Trek's coming early to reality."

Shiki looked confused, "Technologically or..." "Alien-wise," Neku specified.

Shiki giggled, "Right. And it's Star _Wars_. Don't get that mixed up with that quote-unquote 'scientifically accurate' series for sci-fi junkies."

Neku grinned slyly, "I'll keep that in mind."

Just then, both of them heard screaming, and when they looked around in that direction they slowly became horrified.

One by one, random teens were slowly being disintegrated before their eyes.

Within seconds, all that remained were just piles of ashes scattered across the marble floor.

Within a minute or so, Neku had counted for five casualties out of the eleven attendees, but it did not stop there.

"Ugh... I-I don't feel so..." he suddenly heard Eri mutter out softly.

He quickly turned around to her, just she had collapsed to the floor – her right leg just exploded into ash.

With a grievous cry, Shiki was swiftly at her friend's side, cradling her in her arms like a newborn baby.

Both made eye contact with one another, realizing that this may be the last time they saw each other.

"M-My parents aren't gonna like this when they get back from Singapore," Eri murmured mournfully.

With rears overflowing at her eyes, Shiki was shaking her head rapidly from a mixture of denial and stubbornness.

"Don't say that!" she cried out, "You're gonna be okay, Eri! Just keep your eyes on me!"

Eri shook her head slowly, "Too late for that. I'm sorry... for everything..."

And with a last dying breath, the red-head completely disappeared in a cloud of ash, before the eyes of her remaining friends including Neku.

As the next few moments went by in silence, the sounds that could be heard were Shiki's sobs, and the tears that were dripping onto the floor.

Neku was conflicted over what he should do.

On one hand, he wanted to just go over and comfort the distraught girl.

After all, he was the second source of comfort for Shiki if Eri wasn't around.

But on the other hand, he knew that she needed some space from everyone else.

To be allowed to grieve the loss of one of her closest friends.

Slowly, Neku leaned more towards the latter decision.

For he felt what Shiki was feeling right now.

For she was experiencing what he had experienced with Akiara.

And then he looked around to observe the emotions spilling out of those that remained.

Clearly they were also mourning the loss of the friends that they had lost besides Eri.

Just then, his smartphone rang, and he looked at the name of the sender.

His eyes narrowed a little in seriousness and he quickly answered.

"Hello? Beat?" he asked, "What's going on?"

 _"N-Neku..."_ a young female voice croaked back from the other end.

Neku became surprised and asked, "Rhyme? Why are you – where's your brother?"

There was a moment of silence before Rhyme replied back, _"H-He's... Please Neku, I-I need you..."_

Before Neku could question her as to why she would say that, she had hung up on the call.

He stared at his phone for a moment before he started dialling Beat's number again.

But his phone buzzed, indicating that a message had been received.

After having a lookover at it, Neku saw that its content was mainly an address.

Realizing what it meant, he glanced once more at Shiki who was not paying any attention to him, before he headed on his way.

He ran at a fast pace through the nightlife that was Shibuya, except that the usual upbeat vibe was slowly turning chaotic.

He could hear sirens of ambulances and police cars wailing all through the night.

There were ash dispersing across junctions and streets.

People from all walks of life were doing the same thing: staring out in shock or crying out in sorrow and grief.

He paid them no mind, considering that he had a lot on his plate at the moment.

After fifteen minutes, he arrived at his destination.

An apartment building of sorts where a café was on the ground floor, while the residential rooms were above.

As far as Neku could see, the café was closed for the night.

He looked up to the windows, and he saw that the lights were off as well.

Neku let out a sigh, "Maybe I've gotten the wrong house."

But that was when he caught sight of a familiar person wandering inside the café.

From the shadows, she was staring at him longingly before she got off her chair and ran over to the front doors.

As her form was illuminated by the light of a lamppost just outside, Neku recognised her immediately.

"Neku!" Rhyme cried out happily, and the blonde saw the red in her eyes.

She quickly unlocked the doors and ushered Neku inside.

Once he was in, she quickly wrapped her arms around him tightly.

He was surprised at first, but then he awkwardly wrapped his arms back around her.

"Rhyme..." he asked her softly, "Where's Beat?"

Rhyme looked up and stared into his eyes for a long moment, before she let go off him and tugged him at his arm.

"She wants to show me something," he thought to himself, and he nodded his head.

He allowed the girl to drag him gently by his arm as she led him upstairs to their residence.

As they set foot in what appeared to be the living room, Neku became appalled by what he saw.

All around, he could see ash covering almost every part of the floor.

Rhyme let go off his hand and slowly ambled over to the closest patch of ash.

She bended down and collected some of it, then turned around and showed it to Neku.

It took Neku quite a while to figure out whose ash it belonged to.

"Don't tell me..." Neku thought in his mind, "Beat and his parents are..."

Slowly, he got down on one knee and embraced Rhyme once more, and he felt as the girl finally broke down into sobs again.

Not long ago, grief was something that he would not allow himself to be associated with.

Because it was a part of having friends, Neku would despise anything that was related to tragedy.

But during his time in the Game, he experienced first-hand that grief was no curse.

He had seen it when Rhyme sacrificed herself to save her brother.

He had went through it when he first saved Shiki, and then had that duel with Joshua.

Grief was not a curse, in fact it was a stage of development and growth.

And ever since his return to the Realground, Neku had ensured to come to terms with grief, especially since its impact on him with Akiara's death.

But as Rhyme's sobs brought him back to reality, another thought occurred to him.

"Rhyme... why would you call me for help?" he asked her gently, "Don't you have any other relatives?"

Rhyme shook her head, "They all died a long time ago. Beat told me that if anything happened, you were the first one I would go to."

Neku was taken aback by this.

Beat really did say that?

But they had not known each other for that long!

And yet after that they had been through for the past month or so, Beat was willing to trust him with Rhyme's safety?

Somewhere deep inside, Neku felt touched.

He had never thought Beat to be that open and willing to those outside of his family.

Especially since he was constantly overprotective of his younger sibling.

Sometimes even the most brash of teens can also be the most caring of family.

Just then, he heard footsteps approaching from behind him.

Both he and Rhyme turned around, to acknowledge the brown-haired bespectacled girl who was standing at the doorway.

Shiki was staring at them both, the tears had clearly been spent even though her eyes were slightly red.

Letting go off Rhyme, Neku slowly got up to his feet and approached Shiki.

With each step he took, Shiki's smile slowly faded, and he had a bad feeling as to why.

Stopping short in front of her, Neku rubbed his neck and muttered, "Um uh..."

Shiki made a disappointed frown and folded her arms, "You left me crying at Eri's house."

Inwardly, Neku could not help but gulp down an imaginary lump in his throat.

Uh oh, looks like he made another screw up with a girl.

How was he going to explain all of this?

Inhaling in deeply, he started to explain himself slowly, "Look, Shiki... I know that what I did was wrong. I-I can explain -"

He was cut off by a surprising punch to his chin.

For a split-second, his instinctive anger rose, but then he forced it out before constantly berating himself that he deserved it.

He held up a hand in absolute surrender, "O-Okay, I deserve that, but just hear me out -"

"Don't bother," Shiki cut him off angrily, "I know what's going on here."

She slowly advanced towards the blonde, who stood in silent resignation of his punishment.

Rhyme stood close nearby, frightened by what was possibly about to take place.

As soon as she was close enough to Neku, Shiki raised her fist once more.

Neku inhaled and exhaled, and forced himself to steel his resolve and courage. And then the fist came down.

But it shot past him and wrapped around the blonde, much to his surprise.

And then Shiki wrapped her other arm and reeled Neku in for a tight embrace.

Before he could utter out a word of confusion, she whispered into his ear, "You still have a lot to learn, you jerk."

"I-I don't understand..." Neku muttered back.

Shiki giggled, "Silly, I know that you want to help our friends and that's fine. But you can't just leave a girl to wallow in her sorrows, especially in front of a crowd y'know?"

Neku wrapped his arms around Shiki and apologised, "Yeah... sorry for that..."

Shiki removed herself from him, "It's alright, Neku. Just promise that you won't leave this girl hangin' again, alright?"

The blonde chuckled, "Sure, ma'am. Roger that."

And then Shiki did something he never would expect.

She pecked a kiss on his cheek.

And then Shiki was laughing at the awestruck look on his face.

"You might wanna close that mouth of yours," she suggested teasingly, "You could become a human Venus flytrap."

She playfully clinched the base of Neku's chin, and she pushed it upwards, effectively closing his mouth shut.

Neku was still in an daze, before he felt a nudge at his side.

Shaking his head to his senses, he looked down to Rhyme who had an equally teasing smile on her face.

"Somehow... I didn't find that kiss disgusting," she commented with a giggle.

In turn, Neku playfully ruffled his hand on her head, and the trio shared a moment of laughter in the midst of their catastrophic predicament.

* * *

As he watched them from afar through his binoculars, Sanae Hanekoma smiled earnestly from his spot atop a tall building.

As much as he expected for the teens to remain in despair, considering that people were turning to ash everywhere across Japan, he was quite happy to see that they were still feeling positive throughout the whole ordeal.

He knew that he saw something special in the kids when he first met them in the Underground.

And he was seeing it first-hand here.

Those teens out of all the Players had a special bond.

A bond that connected all of them through even the most testiest of trials.

Especially that Beat who willing sacrificed his status as Reaper just to help Neku see through it to the end.

It was something he had never seen before in any other Player.

And no doubt that his associate was also feeling the same way, considering the sticky note that was left to him when the ash dilemma started.

He pulled it out again to read its contents.

 _HEADING OFF-WORLD TO FIND HELP. KEEP AN EYE ON THE KIDDIES FOR ME._  
 _ **\- J  
**_

* * *

 **I do humbly apologise if the chapter's story felt a little rushed and forced. But anyways, we are about half-way through this series!**

 **I thank those for sticking around to read this special series of their famous characters turning to ash (awkward laugh then hides behind couch from thrown food).**

 **(Peeks out)**

 **See you in the next chapter... hopefully?**

 **(Gets smacked in the head by a chair)**


	4. Disney Town

**FINALLY! I have finally completed this chapter!**

 **Apologies for the slight delay though, I've been wrapping my head around how this chapter should go about, not to mention I was nursing a poor head from that chair shot.**

 **(Rubs bandaged forehead).**

 **Anywho... let's keep the ball rolling, shall we? Enjoy!**

* * *

Ever since the defeat of Xehanort, things were becoming much staler in the life of King Mickey Mouse.

Slowly and gradually, his royal duties as King of Disney Town were becoming much of an everyday routine.

There were meetings, celebrations, and writing of letters and reviewing laws.

And not to mention the constant pattern of banquet after feast after banquet.

Without any dwellers of darkness roaming around the worlds anymore, there was little to no need for his Keyblade to be summoned out.

Even when he had time for training, it always seemed that his duties would kick down the door and drag him back into the heat of things.

Not that he was complaining though. Mickey was quite happy with the peace and prosperity that his world was now experiencing.

Without Xehanort around, no longer would his people be endangered at the hands of the Heartless, the Nobodies and the Unversed.

Only because Xehanort fell, could his people live out their lives happily and blissfully.

Still, Mickey pitied him.

Xehanort had so much talent, so much promise to be an exceptional Keyblade wielder, unlike any that came before him.

He had so much wisdom, so great a foresight, that Mickey was willing to bet that if he weren't such a power-seeking madman then he would be one of the greatest Keyblade warriors in history.

And yet, his hunger for knowledge was what led him to his fall from grace, as well as his eventual downfall.

On the outside, Xehanort had maintained the mentality of a wise old man who only wanted to maintain the balance of light and darkness in the world.

On the inside however, he was actually a worshipper of the dark, and that he would do anything to cloud all the worlds in darkness.

Just so he could satisfy his lifelong curiosity of the legend of the Keyblade War.

Thankfully, on many fronts, he was stopped by not only Mickey himself, but also by his friends.

At the beginning, there was only Terra, Aqua and Ventus.

And then years later it expanded to include other unlikely figures.

Such as Roxas, Lea, Xion, and even Naminé.

And finally there was Riku, Kairi…

And Sora.

The trio that both Mickey and Master Yen Sid believed that were destined to takeover the mantle from Terra, Aqua and Ventus as the next generation of Keyblade Masters.

But of course, he was not that surprised when the three of them, especially Sora, respectfully declined the offer.

They also had their own normal lives back on their own world, and Mickey could respect their positions on that point.

After all, outside of being a Keyblade Master, he too had a normal life here in Disney Town.

One that called for him to step up to become the usually benevolent, kind and cheerful King that everyone had come to respect and love.

As he finished writing down the last of his letters that were meant to be sent out to neighbouring towns, he could not help but wonder how everyone else were faring at the moment.

So far as he know, Master Eraqus had retired to live out the rest of his days on some unknown world.

Terra, Aqua and Ventus were investigating an extra-terrestrial event occurring in a far-off world.

Roxas, Lea, Xion and Naminé were spending time together in Twilight Town.

And as for Sora, Riku and Kairi, they were probably –

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" a high-pitched voice cried out inside of his office.

From his papers, Mickey's round ears twitched, and his head snapped up in alarm.

His eyes were focused on the doors – they were slightly ajar.

And then he heard the familiar quick pants of a chipmunk arriving upon his desk.

With a crisp salute, Chip started hopping out and down, "Your Majesty! We have an emergency!"

Mickey's brows furrowed seriously, "An emergency? Of what kind?"

"I-It's hard to explain…" Chip replied back, now seemingly hesitant, "I-It's better that you see it yourself."

Mickey tilted his head in confusion, "Hmm?"

And then he noticed that Chip was all by himself alone.

"Chip. Where's your brother Dale?" he asked slowly.

At the mentioning of his brother, Chip gulped down a lump in his throat, and then he slowly looked away.

At first, Mickey was not sure what this motion meant, but then he noticed a single tear tricking down the chipmunk's face.

Immediately, the King's expression turned grim and he quickly hopped from his chair.

"I'll go check it out," Mickey told him calmly, "You stay here and keep me posted for any sort of danger that pops up."

Chip made no move to salute his King as though he had not heard him. He seemed to be grieving.

With one final remorseful glance at the chipmunk, Mickey raced out of his office.

As he dashed down the main hallway of the castle, the mouse King caught glances of black dots littering the ground.

He skidded to a halt and bent down to pick some of it up.

He brushed one gloved finger against the bits, and it immediately became sooty and dirty.

Mickey frowned even more; he knew what it was.

Just then, he heard a female voice calling him by his title.

Turning around, he saw Daisy approaching as quickly as her regal dress would allow her.

"Mickey! Thank goodness I've found you!" she cried out.

The King noted that she did not perform common courtesy before him, but since he had never been one for tradition, he was silently glad that she didn't.

"Daisy, any idea what's going on?" he asked and showed her some of the black stuff in his hand.

Daisy shook her head, "No idea! Donald and Goofy and the entire Royal Guard are looking into it as we speak!"

Mickey acknowledged with a nod, "I'm heading outside to assess the situation. If you come across Donald or Goofy, tell 'em to meet me in the town square."

Daisy this time curtsied back, "As you command, Your Majesty."

King Mickey began racing off again, making a mental note to change a bit of the rules once this was all over.

Within five minutes, he was charging out of the castle gates, and he entered the square.

All over, he could make out more of the black soot covering the streets.

There were also a couple if residents in the area, and they appeared to be weeping over the piles.

Two of them he could easily recognise as Horace Horsecollar and Clara Cluck.

And as though they sensed his presence, they quickly turned towards him.

"Your Majesty!" Horace exclaimed out with relief, at the same time as Clara clucked out, and they both rushed over to the mouse King.

Mickey nodded at them both and asked, "Do you two have any idea what's going on? Why is there ash all over the town?"

Horace and Clara glanced at one another, and then Clara let out a softer cluck.

"W-Well… y'see Your Majesty, everything was all nice and dandy," Horace began saying slowly, "Regarding the preparations for the Dream Festival, but um…"

Slowly the expressions of both Horace and Clara turned sullener, and this did not go unnoticed by the concerned King.

"Then… all of a sudden… everyone all around just started to…" Horace mumbled.

"Started to what?" Mickey prompted him worriedly, but he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

Horace let out a deep sigh, "Started to turn to ash…"

Almost immediately, Mickey could not help but let out a small squeak of uncomfortableness.

So what he suspected was true, but the question that his mind was tightly wrapped around was how it happened, and who were affected.

Since Horace and Clara were apparently the ones who survived, he decided to go with the latter first.

Gesturing to the ash piles all around, he asked, "Who were the ones in this vicinity that were affected?"

Horace closed his eyes and clenched his hands tightly, "W-Well… there were Huey, Dewey and Louie… Clarabelle… a-and Pluto…"

It was the last one that made Mickey's eyes widen out in surprised terror, but then he slowly closed his eyes and allowed the grief to set in.

Never again would he ever be able to hear that playful bark of his, nor will he ever be able to play with him, and rub his head again out of affection.

"And then we caught wind that people outside the town were also affected," Horace added on, "Darkwing Duck… Max and his red-head gal…"

He looked too mournful to continue on.

Reopening his grim-looking eyes, Mickey told them both, "I'll get to the bottom of this and make sure whoever's the cause of all this pays accordingly. In the meantime, head on indoors and stay there."

With resigned nods, both Horace and Clara turned and raced off from the square.

As he remained the only one left in the square, Mickey began to ponder over his options.

From what Horace had explained earlier, it appeared that this calamity was also affecting towns outside of Disney Town.

And then a more concerned thought occurred to him.

Could it also be possibly affecting other worlds besides his as well?

He had better made sure that this one was a contained epidemic.

Mickey reached into the pocket of his jacket and fished out his Star Shard.

Ever since Xehanort's defeat, Yen Sid had allowed his former Keyblade apprentice to keep the item.

In the event of another incident on a universal scale, Mickey would be able to use it to traverse between worlds without slamming into the barriers.

This is so considering that the worlds were finally separate from each other, once and for all.

But before they parted ways, Yen Sid also instructed Mickey on another use of the Star Shard.

He clutched it tightly and held it close to his chest, to his heart.

He closed his eyes and concentrated deeply, and the Star Shard began to gradually glow a few seconds later, signalling his connection to the D-Link.

And then Mickey attempted to connect himself across time and space, to his friends on the other worlds.

He knew who to start with first.

 _"Aqua. Ven. Terra,"_ he called out in thought, _"How goes your search?"_

Almost immediately there would have been a response from either of the trio.

But much to his shock, there was no response this time.

 _"Can y'all hear me?"_ he tried again, _"Disney Town's havin' a situation, and I need your help now! Aqua?!"_

Again, there was no response, and Mickey became concerned and worried.

"Something must've happened to 'em," he thought to himself grimly.

He decided to try his old master.

 _"Master Yen Sid?"_ he called out, _"Can you hear me?"_

Again, he received no response, and the feeling of dread was starting to creep in.

Desperately, he tried to contact the younger Keyblade wielders.

 _"Roxas! Xion! Can ya hear me?"_ he exclaimed out worriedly, _"It's me, King Mickey! I need your help! If you can hear me, please say something!"_

No response from either of them, and Naminé was somehow blocked off.

While Mickey was happy that Naminé was still alive, he could sense that the aura of the girl was filled with sadness, grief and despair.

And when he tried to contact Lea, it was the same result for him as well.

"At least Lea and Naminé are okay…" he muttered with relief.

And that now left the only trio that he hoped he could still reach out.

But before he could, he felt a sense of dizziness and uncomfortableness overcoming him.

And then slowly, he felt himself getting weaker.

Opening his eyes, Mickey looked to his left hand.

To his shock, it was starting to disintegrate into ash.

Hopelessness began to consume his thoughts.

Mickey realised that his time in this world was up.

But that did not mean that he was going down without leaving a beacon of hope.

He had to act quickly though, or else all will be lost forever.

Focusing on his D-Link, Mickey concentrated on finding someone, anyone who could possibly have the strength to fix everything and save everyone.

And then, he found **her** , and he opened his eyes.

He whispered something to the Star Shard, and with little effort, he tossed it into the air like a boomerang.

Immediately, the Star Shard began zipping off into the sky, and Mickey watched it disappear into the clouds with steely eyes of hope.

Hopefully, she would receive the message he had imprinted onto the Shard.

Maybe she would have the power to make sense of what is taking place, and how she could stop it.

Only time will tell.

As he looked down at his disintegrating body, Mickey knew with sadness that he would not be there when it happened.

With one final sigh of resignation, Mickey mumbled softly, "Sorry Minnie… if only I could've seen you one last time…"

His world turned black for the remainder of eternity.

* * *

 **Well... that got really depressing...**

 **Who's the unknown person that Mickey's sending the Star Shard too?**

 **Too bad we won't find out until the last chapter.**

 **On the bright side, the next chapter will finally bring us to the main KH trio of the series. Yay...?**

 **By the way, those "I don't feel so good, Mr. Stark" memes are going off the charts online!  
**

 **See you guys next time!**


	5. Destiny Islands (Part 1)

**Okay, so I have thought a lot about how I was going to structure the Destiny Islands arc, and after a few days, I have decided to make this into a three-part arc. Especially since there will be quite a number of characters we will be following.**

 **With that said, enjoy this first part!**

* * *

The sound of the school bell ringing brought more than just music to Kairi's ears.

Not only did it meant that lessons were over.

It also signalled the beginning of Summer vacation.

As she continued to distance herself from her school along the usual pathway to her home, she knew that there was only one way to celebrate it.

Of course it would most definitely pale in comparison to the one she and everyone else had when Xehanort was defeated, but Kairi never minded about quality.

Every one of her friends who lived here would always be more than happy to have some fun on Destiny Islands.

It took her no less than fifteen minutes to arrive back her home and change out of her uniform.

She wore her casual pink shirtless hoodie and she stepped out of her room.

For the time being, her adoptive father the Mayor was away in the city.

But that did not mean that she was the only occupant at home.

As she made her way down to the living room, she could hear the sounds of a television programme being ran.

She took a small peak at the television set, where her grandmother was snoozing at the couch.

With a small smile forming at her lips, Kairi quietly went over to the couch to get a closer look at her grandmother.

For the most part, her grandmother represented everything that Kairi's beliefs were built upon.

Love. Hope. Trust. Kindness.

And from another certain point-of-view, her grandmother represented her eternal gratefulness to what Sora had done for her.

Sora, who took down Xehanort, saved the worlds from a second Keyblade War, and freed everyone who lost themselves to the darkness using the Key to Return Hearts.

Of course, she was also as equally happy to see Roxas and Naminé become their own persons (especially that Xion girl who looked like her fourteen-year-old self).

As everything started to settle down, life returned back to normal.

Kairi had offered both Naminé and Xion to live with her in this world.

She could easily explain to her father in a half-truth, half-life sort of way, and then he would officially register all three of them as triplets, since they all look the same.

Naminé and Xion were quite tempted at first, seeing as how they were curious as to what a normal life felt like.

But then they remembered that they had a lot of catching up to do with both Roxas and Lea, now that they were free from the control of the Organization (especially Xemnas).

So eventually, the three came to a compromise.

Naminé and Xion would be free to go on out to enjoy their newly gained freedom with Roxas and Lea, while Kairi would still inform her father of her "sisters'" existence.

And then when the time came, they would be welcomed to move to this world and live there as Kairi's sisters.

Sora attempted to do the same for Roxas, who simply responded with, "Not my kind of lifestyle."

And then of course there was her grandmother.

When the dust settled, she had suggested that both she and Kairi return to their homeworld of Radiant Garden.

But then Kairi had to explain to her what had happened over the past ten years, and that she now had a normal life in this world.

With that said, her grandmother was happy to move in with her in her father's house.

Her adoptive father was also as equally as welcoming, seeing as how he was thrilled that at least a member of Kairi's biological family was still alive.

Ever since then, her grandmother had settled down nicely, even going further as to making new friends with the elderly folk in her neighbourhood.

Kairi was surprised that her grandmother could adapt so quickly, and she had to respect such a character.

For a woman her age, she was surprisingly welcoming of the new environment around her.

It was as though the fears of a whole new world never bothered her at all.

It also had her wondering on some occasions whether or not she would become almost as equally adaptable as her grandmother when she got older.

Her eyes glanced down to the TV remote controllers resting on the armrest of the couch

Kairi took it and pressed the red power button, which saw the television screen turning black a second later.

Setting it down on a nearby table, she casted one more heartfelt look at her slumbering grandmother.

Seeing her here now brought much more joy and happiness into her life.

After spending over a decade being apart from her, Kairi was practically itching to just catch up with her grandmother.

She would be able to take walks with her, pick flowers with her, and even spend quality time chit-chatting about small and stupid things.

For as long as both of them lived, nothing could ever tear them apart again.

Leaning over to her grandmother, Kairi planted a small kiss on her warm and rosy cheeks.

Quietly, Kairi tip-toed over to the front door and exited the house.

Unbeknownst to her, her grandmother opened one tearful eye and smiled warmly at her granddaughter's departure.

As she continued walking slowly across the quiet streets, Kairi was typing away at her phone.

She was sending messages to her friends on their online chatgroup. And they in-turn were doing the same.

Kairi also made sure to look out for where she was going. She did not wish to get into an accident.

Seeing as the pathways were clear of people and bicycles, she resumed typing.

 _PrincessKai: I'm otw over!_

 _SoRage: Me too! Just finished up on the deliveries in the nick of time!_

 _RiderRiku: Gonna be a little late. Got a last minute order for a battered combustion engine._

 _SelfieSelphie: ?!... You fix those too?!_

 _RiderRiku: 'Course. Believe it or not, lots of manufacturing companies come to this mechanic shop._

 _WakkaWakka: Y'mean Cindy's Hammerhead Services, ya?_

 _SoRage: I thought she doesn't take workers?_

 _TidusO'Neel: I think Riku's got the right... attributes, perfect conditions for a Cindy breast-sized flirt._

 _SoRage: So you mean...?_

 _SelfieSelphie: Ew ew ew! That's super gross!_

 _PrincessKai: And now I'm even thinking about it, thanks a lot Tidus._

 _RiderRiku: When I get there later Tidus, I'll make sure your blitzball becomes the third one hanging between your legs._

 _SoRage: Ha ha ha ha! Looks like Tidus won't be getting any sleep tonight!_

 _TidusO'Neel: And I'll make sure your Keyblade's shoved right up your a-hole and stays there, Sora!_

With an exasperated shake of her head, Kairi put her phone away, clearly too disturbed to remain in the ongoing conversation.

Clearly, Tidus had been developing a more... mature mindset for a while now.

Who knew how dirty his thoughts could be?

Everyone ought to know Cindy was never that kind of person to begin with.

She had much more of a body complexity compared to most of the female population, it was true.

But she had never been a sucker for having a sexually-desired character.

While Cindy's character was much more foreign, she always displayed common courtesy and would always be kind and compassionate to both her customers and those who know her best.

But back to the issue with Tidus and Riku, Kairi could only hope that cooler heads will prevail.

Soon, she arrived at the docks, and to her surprise she came across a familiar face.

"Tifa!" she called out, although it unknowingly sounded more like a question.

With a surprise jerk of her shoulders, the black-hair woman who was donned in more casual clothing compared to her usual combat gear, broke contact with the open ocean and turned around.

Once she saw Kairi, Tifa too was as equally surprised.

"Oh, Kairi!" she greeted back warmly, "Fancy seeing you here!"

"Feeling reciprocated!" Kairi replied with a grin, "It's not every day we see old friends in our homeworld!"

Tifa's eyes widened slightly, "You live here?"

Kairi nodded, "Mmm hmm. Me, Sora, Riku... this is where we grew up, y'know before the whole Heartless pandemonium started? Oh! And speaking of that, we haven't seen you and Cloud since Sephiroth was taken down a peg or two. Where've you guys been?"

Tifa folded her arms, "Well, ever since Sephiroth, Cloud's been feeling livelier than he had ever been now that he was free of his darkness's influence, and because of that we both decided to finally settle down and start a normal life."

She turned her head and gazed out towards the Island which glinted in the horizon.

"Radiant Garden would've been a standard choice of course, but both of us had many terrible memories of that place. It took the Committee a hell lot of convincing since they were practically begging for us to stay, but eventually after Aerith "gave in", Leon told us that we would always be welcomed with open arms. So from there, with the power of our light, Cloud and I traversed from world to world, seeking out the best place to settle down. At first we attempted to live in Shibuya, but then after a few days Cloud wanted to leave. He complained that the city life there was too "crowded" for his liking."

Kairi could almost roll her eyes at that remark and thought to herself, "Oh you have no idea..."

For all that time that Sora gave her the grand tour in Shibuya, almost eighty percent of it was spent trying to navigate through the bustling crowds that never seemed to end, just to get to the shopping district.

It got so bad that at one point, Sora accidentally tripped an elderly man's wheelchair (how he even managed to do that was beyond her).

The rest of the day was spent apologising to the man's clearly infuriated adult daughter and listening to Neku and Riku joke all day long about the mishap.

She shook that embarrassing thought out of her mind and paid attention once more to Tifa's recounts.

"... so Cloud agreed that Seifer was kind of a douche and then we were on our way again," Tifa continued on, "And finally, we sensed a great warmth of light so strong and comforting, we allowed it to draw us in. And before we know it, here we are."

She turned to glance at Kairi, "So how about you? What have you guys been doing since Xehanort's defeat."

It was Kairi's turn to fold her arms, "Ah you know... back to the normal necessities. School... hanging out with friends... like nothing ever happened at all."

She took one step closer to Tifa, "But I still envy you guys, and even Sora and Riku. While you all spent a year fighting bad guys and saving worlds, here I was going about my life just like a regular girl."

"True, but sometimes being normal is more than enough for one life," Tifa stated with a smile, "Take it from someone who has been going on an endless search for Cloud across the cosmos. I would have traded all of my martial arts skills, and even Sephiroth, just to get back to becoming a regular tour guide again."

Kairi titled her head in curiosity, "You were a tour guide?"

Tifa nodded her head, "The youngest and the best one there is. Not to brag of course."

"And what about Cloud? What was his normal life like before the whole Sephiroth thing?" Kairi further asked.

This time Tifa looked and felt a bit more hesitant about answering it.

Kairi became concerned by this, realising that it was apparent Tifa was as deeply affected by Cloud's past as the man himself was.

"Well... you see um..." Tifa muttered softly, "Cloud was..."

Just then, they both could hear the roaring of the motorcycle arriving at the docks.

Turning around, they saw as a spikey blonde-haired rider dressed in black pulled the brakes on his peculiar-looking motorcycle right in front of them.

He removed the goggles from his eyes and acknowledged both of them.

He greeted Kairi with a nod then turned to Tifa.

"Tifa, the property manager's at the café," he informed her, "He requests your presence so he can have your signature to seal the contract."

Hearing made Tifa smile even more.

"That's wonderful news!" she exclaimed, "We'd better not keep him waiting, shall we?"

To Kairi's surprise, Cloud actually smiled back at Tifa, more warmly and genuinely than he was used to.

Tifa turned back to Kairi and said, "Well, looks like we part ways here. I have a café in town to start a business at."

Nodding with understanding, Kairi replied, "No problem. If you want, I could stop by your café once in a while. Maybe even bring Sora along too. He would be thrilled to see you two again."

Cloud hummed with a nod, "No doubt he will be."

With a wave of goodbye, Tifa mounted onto the bike behind Cloud and wrapped her arms around his belly.

As she shuffled around with a strange look in her eyes, she asked Cloud, "Did you get a new seat for Fenrir?"

Cloud simply shrugged, "What can I say? Cid may have fashioned this bike for me, but he didn't account for the quality of the seat's leather."

Revving up the gear, Cloud's motorbike sped off down the road, and Kairi waved after them as they left.

As she lowered her arm, she heard another voice call out from behind her, "Hey Kairi!"

She turned around to greet her brown-haired friend who came running over to her, as she normally did when she saw her.

"Selphie!" she greeted with a grin.

As she stopped to catch her breath, Selphie remarked, "Saw the whole thing from the taxi stand! I mean, who were those two anyway?"

"Just some people that I came across during an adventure," Kairi responded.

Selphie playfully frowned and placed her hands at her hips, "Really? 'Cause it seems to me that you were having a pretty friendly conversation with that tall woman and her unusually-attractive hunk of a boytoy riding a badass-looking motorbike!"

"Well to be honest, Sora knows them more than me, but we still get along fine," Kairi stated, "Maybe next time I can introduce you to them. They're opening a café in town."

Almost immediately could she see the glint in Selphie's eyes, and that could only mean one thing.

"Y'know... if we brought Tidus and Wakka along..." she remarked to Kairi, "They'd be ashamed when they see that man."

Inwardly, Kairi laughed, as she could think up multiple ways that Tidus and Wakka could react, as they watched Selphie ogle at Cloud, especially since they were both pining to be the love of her life.

That would most definitely be a sight worth seeing.

Turning in the direction of the Island, Kairi said, "C'mon, it's still a boat-ride away."

The two girls walked along the docks until they founded themselves an unused rowboat.

They both hopped inside and Kairi began rowing it out towards the Islands.

Half-way across, Selphie gasped as though she had remembered something.

"I almost forgot!" she exclaimed, which prompted Kairi to raise an eyebrow.

She removed an item from her pocket and placed it on Kairi's lap.

"Ms Danvers founded this in the science lab," Selphie explained, "She asked me to return it to you."

Kairi's paused in her rowing to stare down at the bracelet.

It was encrusted with gems and crystals of different colours.

It also had a beautiful star decoration at the links.

Slowly, she gave of a warm smile.

It was a present Sora gave to her at the end of the conflict with Xehanort.

According to him, it was once part of a legendary Keyblade which got destroyed during the first Keyblade War.

Overtime it was re-fashioned to become a bracelet; many had recounted that it was supposed to bring the wearer good luck for the remainder of his or her days.

Kairi felt touched by the gesture.

It meant that Sora after all this time had finally confessed his feelings for her.

He could have just simply followed the legend of the paopu fruit, but he knew that there was more to it than just a fruit.

It was about gaining a strong relationship, between himself and the one he cherished most in his life.

And that same feeling could be said of Kairi, as she always had eyes on him since the first day they met.

She suddenly felt a light kick at her shoe, which brought her out of her thoughts.

Kairi looked up to Selphie, who was smiling mischievously at her.

"Between the two of us," Selphie whispered and leaned in close, "Can I be the planner and bridesmaid at your wedding?"

Kairi rubbed her neck, "I'd love to have you as my bridesmaid, but as a planner..."

* * *

 **Apologies if the ending felt abrupt, but on the other hand... Yay! Cloud and Tifa are here!**

 **But honestly, I've been thinking up dozens of ways to bring them both into the story, yet all but one did not feel right - this was the one that I though worked best.**

 **Did anyone catch that reference to a WWE superstar? Anyone? No?**

 **I also could not help but sneak in a Final Fantasy XV character into this.**

 **And again, the Destiny Islands arc will be split into three parts.**

 **The next one will be focusing on Sora and Riku.**

 **See y'all next time!**


	6. Destiny Islands (Part 2)

**Man oh man... this took much longer than I thought... Who knew that doing character development could take up SO MANY words? Wow... Ah well! First time for everything, as the saying goes!**

 **So the second part's finally up, and no, no deaths yet so don't get your nickers in a bunch (just yet!)**

 **Enjoy!**

Sora had to take in deep breaths once he had finished laughing.

Tidus ought to have known better than to cross a line with Riku.

And now he was going to have the hounds of hell unleashed all over his butt.

Ah well, typical Tidus. Always getting into trouble as usual.

"You should know better than to have Riku hook up with someone in your imagination," he remarked with one last laugh.

Soon, he arrived outside a local petrol kiosk – the largest one in his world in fact.

And rightly so since it also housed the one who Tidus paired Riku with.

And speaking of the latter, he caught sight of his friend busy carrying out some sort of contraption from the kiosk's garage.

With a loud whistle, Sora caught his attention in no time at all.

Riku's ears picked up the sound and he turned in that general direction.

When he saw Sora, he managed a small wave, considering what he was carrying.

But before anything else he heard his employer call out to him, "Riku! Where's that spare engine I told ya to bring over?"

Quickly turning back to her, he replied, "I've got it right here!"

He started walking again behind the kiosk, with Sora doing the exact same thing.

When he arrived, he watched as his friend and his employer were going to work on some sort of next generation car of sorts.

"Hand me that wrench will ya, dear?" Cindy asked Riku, and he quickly gave it to her from the toolbox.

It was then that Riku caught sight of his friend looking on.

"Hey Sora," he greeted once more.

Sora grinned back, "Riku! Still working hard, I see?"

Cindy paused in her work momentarily to look at who her employee was talking, and when she recognised him she smiled cheerfully.

"Well well, aren't ya a sight for sore eyes!" she remarked, "What's bring ya here to my lil' establishment?"

Sora folded his arms behind his head in the usual relaxed posture, "Oh you know… hanging out with friends as usual. In fact, we're all meeting up at Destiny Islands right now."

He was also trying very hard not too stare at her two... circle things... that were popping out from her chest like a children's pop-up book.

"Is that right?" Cindy said then turned to Riku, "I can take it from here Riku, thanks for the help today."

Riku nodded back, "Sure, no problem ma'am."

Cindy laughed at the use of a formal title, "Please… just Cindy dear."

With that, Riku left with Sora and they walked back towards the garage.

"Could you wait out here for a second," he asked Sora, "I'm gonna need a few minutes to wash up and grab my pack."

Sora nodded his head, "Mmm. Sure Riku! Take all the time you need!"

Returning the nod, Riku headed back inside the garage, while Sora decided to buy two cans of soda from the kiosk.

After a few minutes of waiting, Riku returned outside with his bag slung over his shoulder, acknowledging Sora taking a sip from his soda can.

"Looks like someone's dehydrated already," he remarked.

Sora glanced at Riku and removed the can from his lips.

"Can you blame me? In this weather it's almost as hot as Agrabah's desert!" he stated and handed Riku his own can.

Popping open the top, Riku took a mouthful of soda syrup, which almost instantly refreshed his body.

As the two friends headed towards through the city towards the docks, they continued to talk about how peaceful life had been since their victory over Xehanort.

Truly, it had been a long and rough road for the both of them.

Sora who started out as a boy with just a key-shaped sword and finished as a full-fledged Keyblade Master.

Riku who once willingly harboured the darkness in his being, now was the conqueror of darkness.

Through trial and tribulation, they both finished the race stronger, and better than ever before.

With the war finally over, the worlds were once more at peace, with no Heartless, Nobodies or Unversed to disrupt the balance.

And it was all because of the combined efforts of Sora, Riku and all of their allies.

Without them, both teens would probably have not even made it to the half-way point of their journey.

Without Donald and Goofy, Sora would never have survived on his own against the thousands of enemies of darkness.

Without King Mickey, Riku would have remained a servant of the darkness, and quite possibly could have become a vessel in Xehanort's True Organization XIII.

And while they were now far apart from one another, they will never forget the bonds that they all had forged together as one.

Sora also made it certain that Riku would also pass on his tales to his children so that their memory would live on.

Just as they about to enter the suburban district, Sora caught sight of two familiar figures at a café.

Noticing this, Riku whispered to him, "Is it just me, or do they look like…"

Almost immediately, Sora rushed over to the café, with Riku following close at his heels.

As he neared the blonde-haired man, Sora called out, "Hey! Cloud!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Cloud turned around to see him approaching him.

With almost a surprised look, he smiled warmly, "Sora, good to see you."

"And I'm surprised to see you here!" Sora replied back with a grin.

Cloud chuckled, "Yeah? Then I must be very good at surprises."

Sora looked behind him, to the black-haired woman discussing with a suit-wearing man as they entered the café.

"Is that Tifa?" he asked.

Cloud nodded and glanced behind him, "Currently she's finalising a contract with the property manager to complete her ownership of this café."

"Ownership?" Riku asked as he arrived behind Sora, "You mean you guys are staying here?"

Remembering that his friend was with him, Sora wrapped an arm around Riku.

"You remember Riku, right?" he asked Cloud with a grin.

Cloud nodded at Riku with a small hum, "Yeah. And again, I apologise for attacking you."

Riku shook his head, "It's alright. I suppose that I have that look sometimes."

"But still, it's still quite hard to differentiate you and Sephiroth," Cloud remarked with folded arms.

"There is one way," Sora spoke up and without warning, he moved behind Riku and pulled up the corners of his mouth into a smile.

Surprised by this, Riku cried out in a restrained voice, "Sora! Could you please…"

Cloud laughed a little at this antic, but then he said to Sora, "Let him go, Sora."

With a plain shrug, Sora removed his two fingers from Riku.

As his friend began to nurse his cheeks, Sora said, "But back to the main topic..."

To Cloud's surprise, Sora jumped and thrust his arms out in a dramatic fashion.

"YOU AND TIFA ARE STAYING HERE?!" he cried out in absolute shock and surprise.

Riku frowned a little at his friend's overdramatic performance and he muttered, "I asked that first..."

Cloud smirked at his reaction and told Sora, "In a sense, yeah."

"But I thought you and Tifa decided to head back to Radiant Garden?" Sora said.

"We were, but after a while we changed our minds," Cloud explained briefly, "Had one too many bad memories of that place."

Riku became curious, "Oh? How so?"

At first, it looked as though Cloud was inclined to respond, but then his light-heartened mood suddenly soured.

He became slightly crestfallen, which had not gone unnoticed by Sora and Riku.

But then it was shaken off, and Cloud simply responded with, "It's not important now."

"Not important?" Sora parroted him doubtfully, clearly not buying his answer.

When he still got no response from the man who had apparently gone silent, Sora pressed, "C'mon, you gotta give us something more than that Cloud! There's must've been something about Radiant Garden that's kept you away from it!"

Cloud still kept his silence for a few several minutes, and he maintained eye contact with a pleading Keyblade Master.

And then he finally gave up and let out a sigh, "You really are dead-set on hearing the story?"

Sora nodded his head like an eager little boy.

Cloud closed his eyes, "Fine. For all intends and purposes, you can thank Sephiroth for all the misgivings Tifa and I had to endure."

He folded his arms, "Back when everything was still peaceful, Sephiroth wasn't always all darkness and violence. In fact, he used to be a respectable hero. Whenever Radiant Garden was under threat by outside forces, he would be the first to charge into battle, leaving none standing and forcing most of the defenders to literally play the reserves. But then one day, a stranger came into town and started to attack with the powers of darkness. As usual Sephiroth swooped in to the rescue and confronted the man. But as quickly as the battle started, it ended. When the dusted settled, the man had disappeared... but so did Sephiroth. Ansem labelled him as MIA and ordered his forces to start searching far and wide for our hero, to no avail. Seven days passed without incident until finally, Sephiroth returned in the middle of the night. But little did everyone know, that he had changed by then. That night I was still fast asleep, oblivious to what was transpiring that night, until an massive explosion woke me up. I had almost little time to react before my house collapsed, and while I survived... my mother did not. In a daze I was horrified by what was happening all around. Houses were on fire, innocents were slaughtered, and cries of despair were singing out in chorus in the chilly air. And then I saw him in front of me, the man who I came to view as an idol. He still looked the same as always, with his attire and his long sword. And then I saw _the eyes_. I didn't want to believe it at the time, but something had changed. His eyes... they were cold... unforgiving... murderous... The man that I had come to adore as a heroic figure of peace and justice... was gone..."

Sora and Riku glanced at each other with mixed emotions as they listened on to Cloud's tale.

And then Riku muttered out, "Sephiroth... murdered everyone?"

Cloud shook his head, "Not all of 'em thankfully. While most of the district was destroyed, many of the citizens had managed to evacuate to other nearby districts. But only one person decided to stay behind, to go after Sephiroth to avenge the death of her father. Conflicted as I was, I decided to follow after my childhood friend in case she did anything stupid."

"Tifa..." Sora spoke out with remorse in his voice, and Cloud hummed back his confirmation.

"She followed Sephiroth, who marched right into the Castle to confront Ansem the Wise, and she took him on with her acquired basic martial arts techniques. But it only took a second for Sephiroth to slice open her stomach and nearly cost her her own life. Even who had witnessed what had transpired, quickly evacuated Tifa with the remaining ground staff, which allowed me to sneak by them and continue following Sephiroth. And while I'm ashamed to say that I had left Tifa alone when she needed me the most, I knew that Sephiroth had to be stopped quickly before he caused an accidental power vacuum. Sephiroth soon arrived at Ansem's study and he began spewing out death threats, and demanding why he had kept secrets from him. I could tell that Ansem was as easily confused as I was, and he confessed that he had no idea what Sephiroth was talking about. Of course Sephiroth responded in the normal way that he did now: he started destroying the study with his sword. Ansem began to flee from the mad man who then followed him into the Manufactory. Because Sephiroth was younger and stronger than Ansem, he managed to catch to him quickly. But before he could plunge his sword in His Lordship, I quickly stepped in. With everything I had, I sent both Sephiroth and myself tumbling down onto the main platform of the Manufactory. The fall could've killed me, if Sephiroth had not been my voluntary pillow. Angered by my intervention, Sephiroth impaled me with his sword and lifted me upwards like a ragdoll. As I struggled in pain and agony, he taunted me some more for my guts to challenge him. Before he could finish me off however, Ansem had activated the Manufactory, and targeted its electro rods at Sephiroth himself. Sephiroth was distracted by the rods charging up, that I finally wrenched my chest out from his sword. I barely managed to get clear, before the rods fired everything they had at Sephiroth. Within seconds, Sephiroth was electrocuted before he exploded into nothing but dust. I saw no pain or scream radiating from his face; he looked more satisfied than regretful. Following his death, Ansem ordered me to the medical centre where Even diagnosed that my injury was critical. In order to save me, he injected a serum into my body three times, and while it saved me... it also had its side effects. The serum was still experimental stages and that it had never been actually used on a human being before. The side effects took a toll on my mental health, but I managed to get by for the next few years after Sephiroth's death. During that time I was enrolled into the SOLDIER program, and quickly I burned through the ranks until I became First Class – the highest title of Radiant Gardens' militia. I strove to carry on Sephiroth's heroic legacy, and undo the pain that he had wrought that night. But then one night, I started to have unbearable headaches, and then experienced visions of the incident. I was left unconscious by the experience for a few days, but later I got back to normal again. And so more time passed after that, and that's when it happened... The Heartless began attacking the town. I did the best I could to fight off the fiends that were consuming the hearts of the innocent, so did Tifa who became a stronger expert fighter since her run-in with Sephiroth. But ultimately, their superior numbers overwhelmed us. Battered and defeated, I was casted out from my world, separated far from Tifa, and was flung across the vast reaches of the cosmos. When I woke up, I realised that I was in a different world. So from then on, I decided to find a way back to Radiant Garden. A couple of years passed, and then I met him again... Sephiroth. He claimed that he was now my darkness incarnate and that soon, he would bend me to his will. Before I could attack however, he opened up a portal of darkness and escaped through it. Knowing full well that he could not escape a second time, I charged right in after. And that was when I ended up in Olympus Coliseum. Later I came across Hades and I struck a deal with him. Then I met you, Donald and Goofy not long after that Sora."

Sora's mouth widened at that realisation, "Oh... so that's how it happened..."

Cloud nodded solemnly then opened his eyes, "It would take me long after my first fight with Sephiroth to come to grasps with my true situation. When Sephiroth said that he was my darkness, he meant every single word of it. On that night of his destruction, Sephiroth knew that he would perish physically, so he had a backup plan. My torture at his blade? It was all intentional on his part. He channelled his darkness through his blade, right into my heart where it would merge with my own darkness. And when I had that mental trauma, that was Sephiroth being reborn from my darkness. It took me so much hardship just to wake up to reality, but now that he's now in chains in my own heart, I'm finally free once more."

Just then, Tifa called out from the entrance, "Cloud! We're almost done with the paperwork! We can start on the ads as soon as we're able to!"

Turning around, Cloud waved at her, "That's great Tifa!"

She then took notice of Sora and gave him a half-salute.

Sora grinned back with a little wave and a giggle.

Looking back to him and Riku, Cloud said, "Well, duty calls again."

Riku nodded, "Mmm. Seems so. Perhaps we can come by here again if you like?"

Cloud smiled warmly at the offer, "Sure, of course. Anytime that you guys. Tifa will be here for the most part. I'll be in-charge of deliveries."

"Sounds like a fun job, huh?" Sora commented.

Cloud scoffed lightly, "Haven't done this before, but like they always say, "You won't know until you find out"."

With a salute of his own, he headed off after Tifa into the café, with Sora and Riku waving after him.

As soon as the doors closed, both turned to each other.

"Wow..." Riku muttered, "I know that Cloud clearly had a tragic upbringing... but not this bad..."

Sora sighed deeply, "It took a toll on him... Sephiroth was his hero... and ended up he becoming his greatest enemy."

He looked back to the café, "Can you imagine having to fight someone you revered for so long... to save everything you hold dear?"

Riku's expression became crestfallen, and then he turned to the café again.

"Yeah... I can imagine..." he murmured softly to himself.

It wasn't too long ago that he went through the same thing, with Xehanort's Heartless Ansem.

Once, he had also thought Ansem to be his saviour, to be his hero, for liberating him from this world.

But overtime, Xehanort's Heartless used this weakness to his advantage.

He manipulated Riku through the use of Maleficent, and while the evil witch had thought that she was achieving her ultimate goal with Riku, it was actually Ansem's goal that she was achieving.

In the end, Ansem took full control of Riku and through him, achieved a physical form of his own.

Similar to how Sephiroth did the same thing with Cloud.

But ultimately like Cloud, Riku too managed to break Ansem's hold over his heart, and he too became free once more.

Although he also had to fight of Xemnas' Organization XIII and later the True Organization, Riku had better control over his darkness ever since.

Whether or not Cloud's story was actually similar to his own, Riku could not say.

He could simply write it up as purely coincidental.

But then he also wondered if he, Cloud and Terra were connected in some way or form.

Now that would've been a very interesting tale to tell.

And now Riku had someone who he could relate his experiences too as well.

While they both trudged on different paths, they were connected by similar turns of events.

Turning back to Sora, he said, "C'mon, we'd better head on over to the docks."

Sora hummed with a nod, "Right."

The duo continued on their way to the docks, and they resumed their usual conversation about normal life.

And then as they arrived, Riku spotted a familiar teen boy who was overlooking a rowboat.

His eyes suddenly flashed dangerously and he started growling.

Noticing this, Sora asked him, "Uh, Riku? You alright?"

Riku looked ready to run a marathon, "May as well as him that when I'm through."

Sora turned towards the docks, and then he quickly recognised the figure. His eyes widened.

"TIDUS!" Riku snarled as he started charging on over to his victim.

Hearing ' **the voice** ', Tidus quickly turned around, and his eyes widened with terror.

"WAKKA! GIVE ME SOME ELBOW ROOM!" he hollered out as he hopped into the rowboat, with Wakka having just finished untying the lines.

As Riku came closer, Tidus screamed at Wakka to start rowing out towards the island. But since Wakka was rowing slowly (on purpose), Tidus grabbed the oars and started rowing like crazy.

The rowboat pulled out from the docks, just in time before Riku could hop aboard and grab the panicking teen.

Within seconds, Riku had turned the blitzball professional, into a fleeing prey.

As he continued huffing out his frustration, Sora finally caught up with him.

He then spotted a rowboat close by. It was currently not being used.

Tapping Riku on the shoulder, he said, "C'mon! We're weighing anchor this instant!"

"We'd better..." Riku replied back dangerously, "Or else I'm gonna start leaving behind _bodies_..."

Sora gulped down his nervousness as his friend's statement, as Riku casted off their bow from the docks and rowed out after Tidus in hot pursuit.

 **Alrighty-o! Two parts down, and** one **to go! Hope you guys are ready for what comes next, cause it's gonna cause a riot!**

 **Also, I'd like to take this time to say that I've always been wondering how Cloud's backstory would go down in Kingdom Hearts, as compared to Final Fantasy VII. This may not look like much, but I figured it would be a rough representation of of what Cloud's story could really look like in Kingdom Hearts (with a little bit of FFVII influence of course).**

 **On a side note, I would like to invite all of my followers to play this app game called HQ Trivia.**

 **Basically it's like live game show where you can actually win money if you answer the questions correctly.**

 **If you have not played it yet, I sincerely encourage you guys to check it out!**

 **It's fun and really engaging, and you'll get to read all those comments in the chat section!**

 **You may also use my referral code if you wish: SpindlyWhale410 (I know, it's the same as my profile name, but it's sort of stuck with me.)**

 **See you guys next time!**


	7. Destiny Islands (Part 3)

**Okay, I'll admit. I am SO not ready for this! After all the chapters, it has come down to the one you guys have been waiting for!**

 **And I shan't keep you stalled for long! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Aw, c'mon Kairi, surely you can see well this plan could go down!" Selphie pleaded with Kairi with a pouty face.

Kairi on the other hand was simply allowing her words to pass through one ear, and out the other.

She had spent the entire last hour listening to whatever nonsense her friend had been spewing out about planning for her possible wedding with Sora.

Oh Selphie had a million ideas alright... a million centered around her and Sora singing together after their wedding vows.

Not even five minutes in and she had already started shutting out Selphie's enthusiastic voice.

But sadly Selphie was caught up in her own fantasising to even notice that Kairi had stopped paying attention to her.

Until now at least.

"And I could see just a billion ways your ideas wouldn't work out," Kairi replied, clearly a little exhausted by all the suggestions.

But Selphie stubbornly shook her head. She wasn't giving up yet.

"B-But surely you can see the potential of a duo couple singing after wedding vows!" she implored.

"Potential? Of course! For a school play of course," Kairi responded plainly.

Selphie opened her mouth to defend again, but then she knew that Kairi was as stubborn as she was.

Where they were going, it would be going on for hours and hours with no end in sight.

With a defeated sigh, she relented, "Fine... fine...! Guess I'll have to think a lot harder."

Suddenly, they heard screams and pants from the small dock.

Both girls looked around to see Tidus running for dear life, with Wakka keeping pace behind him.

At first Kairi was confused and amused as to why Tidus was running like frightened little kid.

And then her answer came from offshore, in the form of a faint, yet familiar voice hollering out Tidus' name.

She faced in that direction, and caught sight of Sora and Riku not too far away on their own rowboat.

Currently by the looks of their trajectory that Riku was rowing in, it was safe to assume that he was making a beeline for the shore instead of the dock.

"Oh boy..." she thought with a slight shake of her head, "This is gonna turn out well..."

"Wakka! Grab anything that you can find, then follow me into the Secret Place!" Tidus ordered frantically, "We need to establish a Riku Barricade, pronto!"

With a shake of his head, Wakka started to scour around for anything large as his friend fled into the safe sanctuary beside the waterfall.

Meanwhile, Selphie was taunting out to the latter, "Hey Tidus! A barricade won't stop a raging Riku from tearing you in half! He's gonna kill you!"

Whether or not Tidus heard her, she could not say since he was already inside the Secret Place.

But it did not matter to Selphie at the moment. She had memories to record down!

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her camera.

"I'm so glad I did not forget to bring my camera!" she said to Kairi and nudged at her side, "Once Riku comes ashore, all hell breaks loose! I am NOT gonna let this moment be lost to history!"

Kairi responded silently with an unbelievable shake of her head.

Even at this stage of their lives, and most of them were still acting like little kids.

Heck, she couldn't even count the number of times Riku kicked Tidus' butt for making a joke at his expense.

"Sometimes, I wonder whether I'm actually the most matured one in this group..." she muttered softly to herself, as Selphie had started running off to look for a good spot to shoot the opening scene.

Within minutes, the angry silver-hair and Sora arrived on the beach, and the former was already hopping out before the rowboat had banked properly.

"TIDUS!" he yelled out at the top of his lungs, and Kairi could see the murderous look in his eyes.

He started running over to the Secret Place, leaving Sora behind to tend to the rowboat.

Selphie was shooting every single moment of it and was following close behind Riku.

Noticing the concerned expression on Sora's face, Kairi walked over to him.

"Sora," she spoke up softly, and the spikey-haired teen turned to her.

He gave her one of his usual grins as he greeted back, "Oh, hey Kairi! How's school been for you so far?"

Kairi shrugged, "Same old, same old. I just finished with mid-terms and now today marks the start of Summer vacation."

Sora paused momentarily in his work, then glanced at Kairi with widened eyes.

"Summer?!" he cried out in surprise, "A-Already?!"

"Yeah," Kairi replied with a confused tilt of her head, "Why? Is there something wrong?"

Sora's change in expression was instantaneous.

From surprised, he became bashful.

"Well um uh..." he started saying and rubbed the back of his head, "It's just that I've been kinda busy with the jobs that I've been doing. I hadn't realised how much time had passed, that's all."

Kairi smiled and folded her arms, "Well, if you and Riku had re-joined school, time will always be your focus. _Always_."

At the mentioning of school, Sora let out a dramatic sigh, "Don't remind me..."

He started to readjust the oars, "Although I admit, Riku and I did want to get back into school. It's just that... all of the spots were taken..."

With a giggle, Kairi playfully punched him in the shoulder, "Sora. I was there."

Sora laughed, "Yeah... forgot about that part too."

"Ah well, at least you're finally starting to take responsibility for your own life," Kairi said with an approving tone, "Instead of just slacking off again."

As usual, her compliment stoked his ego just a little bit, and Sora could not help but boast it out.

"You know me, Kairi!" he said proudly, "I am the Keyblade's Chosen One! I took down the Heartless, the Nobodies, and Master Xehanort's Organization XIII! Guess I've learned a lot through all that time, and matured too! And considering that I'm a couple years short of an adult, I still have an awesome reputation to build!"

"That, as well as tempering that ego of yours," Kairi added in, "Otherwise you may not set a good example for the kids next time."

Sora backtracked once he heard it. Those two words.

"D-Did you say, 'the kids', Kairi?" he asked her softly.

Kairi nodded with a hum, "Mmm hmm. Of course! Since you're a heroic icon now, thousands of children and kids around the world will be hearing tales of your adventures! If you ever want them to even at least fantasise about you, the least you can do is act more like your age now, 'kay Sora?"

But then unexpectedly, she saw his face look slightly crestfallen.

As though he was upset about something. It meant that she must have said something wrong to make him feel that way.

"W-Was there something I said, Sora?" she asked with concern.

As if he was snapping out of a trance, Sora shook his head and plastered his usual smiley grin.

"Nothing Kairi!" he assured her, "Everything's okay right here!"

Kairi knew that he was lying, but she decided not to press further.

Sora on the other hand was displaying his normal expression, but on the inside it was a different story.

Deep in his heart, he was thinking to himself, "So Kairi wasn't talking about... our..."

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Alarmed, both of them turned to the Secret Place, where they could see Riku emerging from the entrance and painfully dragging Tidus by his earlobe.

"Oh boy, this is not going to end well," Sora commented worriedly, seeing the look on Riku's face.

His friend was beyond murderous now.

Kairi let out a sarcastic scoff, "Gee, you think?!"

She turned to him, "C'mon, we'd better separate those two knuckleheads before they turn the beach red!"

Sora nodded back curtly with a serious look, and they both sprung off towards the two teens.

As they moved in to intervene, Riku could be heard growling at Tidus, "When I'm done with you, you're gonna wish that you hadn't taken up blitzball in the first place!"

"Come on, Riku..." Tidus pleaded desperately, "I know that I may have stepped over a line –"

" _Again!_ "

"... a-again... but please! Can't we just talk this out like civilised folk?!"

Riku let out a humourless laugh, "Talk? And let you walk away just to joke about my normal life again? Fat chance, buddy!"

Tidus was about to protest some more, when they both heard Kairi screaming out, "LET HIM GO!"

Riku halted in his steps, and came face-to-face with Kairi, who was glaring down daggers into his soul.

"Did you hear me?" she snapped angrily at him, "Let. Him. Go."

Almost immediately, any anger that Riku had in his thoughts left him quickly.

Taking opportunity of the distraction, Sora quickly removed Riku's hand from Tidus' ear.

Tidus quickly began nursing his stinging ears as Kairi continued to berate Riku.

"Did you realise what you almost did?!" she asked him rhetorically.

Riku remained silent, now he looked ashamed.

"You could've seriously hurt Tidus!" Kairi chided, "Plus, he's a blitzball professional! What if he had an upcoming tournament and he had an injury which could cost his team the victory?!"

"Don't worry 'bout me, Kai," Tidus assured her with a wave as he dusted off sand from his shorts, "Riku's beaten me more times than I can count. And besides, I've taken worse beatings from the local bullies."

"AND THAT'S EVEN WORSE!" Kairi hollered at him, which caused Tidus to almost jump out of his skin.

She marched over to him, signalling who her next target was.

"I understand that since you're in a professional sport, you have experience taking more hits and bumps than all of us here combined!" she told him like an angry mother, "But even so, Riku's your friend! You shouldn't be so callous as to make snarky remarks about who he works for and what life he leads. Everyone has their own personal lives, and they ought to be respected accordingly! I know that you and Riku have been going about this same old stupid routine for years, and my only regret was that I hadn't stepped in sooner!"

She paused for a few moments to catch deep breaths before she continued.

"With that said..."

She pulled Riku over to Tidus.

Making sure that they were aligned face-to-face, she ordered them, "Apologise to each other."

Riku and Tidus stared each other down for a few moments.

And then Kairi added in, "NOW!"

Close by, Sora and Wakka were watching Kairi with somewhat fearful looks.

"Hey bruddah?" Wakka whispered to Sora, "Remind me to never get on your gal's bad side, ya?"

Sora slowly nodded, "Duly noted."

He then elbowed Selphie beside her, "Put away your camera before she comes after you too."

Selphie complied obediently, as she nervously watched the exchange going on.

Riku and Tidus remained silent, both feeling hesitant and angry for having to do this.

But Kairi knew that she was in control of their situation now.

She could wait all day long for them to apologise, and if they didn't she would make sure they would stay on the Island until they did so.

Eventually, Riku decided to apologise first.

"Sorry," he muttered out, his eyes were looking down at the sandy ground.

With a grumble Tidus reciprocated back, "Yeah, sorry dude..."

Unfortunately for them however, Kairi knew that they were not that genuine.

So for the next few minutes, she had them repeat their apologies to one another, until she decided that they were satisfactory enough.

Soon after, she was happy enough that she said, "Good! So am I assured that next time you guys will act out your age?"

Riku and Tidus sighed in-sync and responded, "Yes ma'am."

With a curt nod, Kairi suddenly whirled on Selphie who instinctively froze up in fear.

"Same goes for you too," she warned her, "Sixteen-years-old, and you chose to record the beating rather than help Tidus out."

Selphie casted her eyes down to the ground, clearly ashamed by her own actions.

With the issue finally settled, Kairi headed over to Sora and clasped her hand in his.

"C'mon, let's bring your boat over to the dock," she said cheerfully and she led Sora away.

In her destructive wake, her friends were left silent to think over their actions, excluding Wakka who was fearfully amazed by how much raw authority Kairi had.

As the next fifteen minutes passed, the tense slowly passed, as Kairi's 'victims' slowly allowed her lecture to pass by without incident.

By the time Sora and Kairi had arrived back from the dock, the other four had resumed joking around again.

At least this time they were not making fun of each other using personal issues, much to Kairi's relief.

Later that day, they all sat down by the paopu fruit tree, to gaze out towards the mainland which beckoned in the distance.

"Man oh man," Tidus expressed out with a stretch of his arms, "It sure feels good to be out here again after so long!"

"Ya! No thanks to school we're only able to come out here during vacation periods and holidays!" Wakka agreed with a nod.

"Like a bird being freed from its cage," Selphie recited out with a small smile on her lips.

"Only for it to be caught and brought back into it again," Kairi added in, which caused half of their group to groan in disappointment.

"And that's what I hate about fun and games!" Tidus stated, "Time flies when you're having fun, but time stalls when you're doing schoolwork!"

Selphie pouted a little more at his statement, then turned to Riku and Sora.

"At least you guys got lucky with your adventure and all," she said enviously, "I mean, you guys are gone for an entire year, and then you come back to find that all the spots have been taken up!"

Sora and Riku glanced at one another. And then Riku said to Selphie, "As fun as it was, we also had a duty to protect the worlds."

"Which sounds super cool and awesome!" Selphie exclaimed, "Compare that to figuring out Pythagoras' theorem."

"Aw, don't be like that Selphie!" Tidus told her cheerfully, "Even though we were in school, we still had fun!"

"Sure! If you count getting straight Fs as fun!" Selphie replied back, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Tidus waved it off, "Oh c'mon, all you need is a little boost of confidence and joy!"

He hopped off from the tree, "And as luck would have it, I know of a solution!"

Wakka frowned at his friend's words and he spoke up, "Uh, man? I strongly protest against what you're about to do."

Kairi raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Do what?"

Tidus grinned back at her, "Trust me, Kai. It really works wonders for your stress levels."

Riku scoffed lightly, "Okay then, Tidus. Show us your thing."

Wakka groaned once he spoke up, and made a facepalm, "Ooh... he did NOT just say that..."

Gladful for the prompt, Tidus did a little bit of warmups before he placed his hands at his waist.

Bending backwards slightly, he let out a loud sound of laughter.

"AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Almost immediately, Sora and Kairi began cringing alongside Wakka, while Riku looked as though he was trying to remain stoic throughout Tidus' antic.

Tidus felt rejuvenated by his remedy, and then looked back to his friends for their opinions.

Somehow, he was not surprised by the way his friends were looking at him, save for one.

"That's looks... interesting," Selphie commented, "Can I do it?"

"NO!" Wakka and Sora cried out in-sync, while Riku facepalmed.

Tidus grinned ecstatically, "Sure! The more the merrier!"

Selphie hopped to her feet and skipped over to Tidus.

"So, tell me how you did that!" she exclaimed eagerly.

Tidus laughed a little, "I think it better that I position you properly, for full effect of course!"

As he started to assist Selphie, Wakka could not help but frown a little as he watched his friend grip onto Selphie's arms and move them around gently.

Noticing this, Sora asked Wakka, "What's wrong?"

Wakka merely replied, "N-Nothing man..." But he was subconsciously slinking away further from Sora.

By his action, Sora could tell that there more to it than that, and he knew the reason why.

For a few weeks now, he had been taking notice of Wakka spending more time with Selphie.

Both with the rest of them, and by themselves.

Wakka even volunteered to help Selphie in her daily chores or in schoolwork, whenever Tidus wasn't around them that is.

Sora could understand where he was coming from.

Even at times, he also had his moments of brushing arms with Riku when it came to Kairi.

Of course after a while Riku himself admitted that Kairi wasn't his type, he said that she was all his since they were both lazy.

Yet from time to time, Sora would still get a little defensive whenever he saw Riku and Kairi laughing out together.

"AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

The unwelcoming laughter broke through his haze of thoughts and memories, and Sora quickly plugged his ears.

In front of them, Tidus and Selphie were now laughing together in-sync, as part of Tidus' stress-relieving exercise.

And by now, even Riku was forced to scrunch up his nose in irritation and cover his ears with his hands.

After a couple more times, Selphie had broken down into actual laughter.

Tidus, happy by how successful his exercise went, remarked, "Well! Looks like someone's more rejuvenated!"

Selphie grinned back, "I guess sometimes your antics work out to a positive reaction!"

"Exercise! Not antic!" Tidus corrected her.

He then turned to the others, "So how about it? You guys wanna give it a shot?"

The reactions were mixed.

Riku was narrowing his eyes at Tidus.

Sora and Wakka were glancing at one another with equal reluctance.

Kairi rubbed her neck and muttered out, "I'd love too... but I'm good..."

Tidus pouted a little and opened his mouth to implore insistence.

"Uh, guys..." Selphie called all of them, and they turned to her.

"Is there some sort of mid-year celebration we did not know about?" she asked, sounding hesitant.

Sora raised an eyebrow, "If there was, we would've known about it."

"T-Then... what's that s-supposed to be?"

Selphie pointed out towards the mainland.

Riku squinted his eyes. He thought he saw something emerging out from the skyline of the buildings.

"What do you suppose..." he muttered and went off forwards to beside Selphie.

Soon everyone else followed his action, and they were staring out at what appeared to be large concentrations of dust flying into the air.

"Something's going on back there," Tidus commented, "Maybe it's a burning ceremony."

He turned to Kairi, "Did your pops say anything about organising an event?"

Kairi shook her head, "No. My Dad would never ever think about burning things, and besides he's quite open about his plans to everyone, even myself."

"Maybe Cloud and Tifa would know what's going on back at home," Sora suggested.

Kairi turned to him, "You've met them already?"

Sora nodded, "Yeah. Riku and I walked past their café on the way to the docks. Had a bit of chit chat with Cloud for a while."

Riku nodded his head to confirm his friend's explanation.

"Wonder what their doing now..." Kairi muttered as she refocused her eyes back to the mainland.

* * *

Cloud could describe just how happy Tifa was when she shook hands with the property manager.

When he had left, plans of refurbishing the interior were already dripping out from her mouth.

But then he heard screams coming from outside, and he slowly became alert.

As he silent walked over to the windows, Tifa suggested to him as she browsed the counter, "Maybe we could call it '7th Heaven'! What do you think?"

"Yeah, sounds nice," Cloud replied briefly as he stared outside. Slowly, his eyes widened in shock.

"Great! Then I'll get a designer to draft out a logo for us!" Tifa exclaimed happily and she turned to him.

Noticing that he was silent all of a sudden, she called out to him again, "Cloud?"

Still she was met with silence, and slowly her smile faded.

Realising that something was bothering him, she slowly approached the battle-weary man.

When she joined him in looking out the window, she was horrified at what she was witnessing.

All around the street, there were people that were _disintegrating_ into what appeared to be ash.

And families and friends that were being left behind, were shocked and struggling to comprehend what was happening.

"What is..." she muttered out softly, clearly traumatised.

Cloud's eyes narrowed, "No clue. But one thing's for sure, we need to – UGH!"

All of a sudden, he felt overwhelming agony taking over his body, and Tifa was quickly at his side.

"Cloud!" she cried out with full concern, "Are you okay!"

With a sharp intake of air, Cloud muttered out, "I don't know... but..."

His expression slowly turned pale, as he stared down at his hand.

Tifa followed his gaze, to see that ash was flying out from his palm and fingers.

And then Cloud started to writhe in pain again.

He started to flail about violently, which forced Tifa back before she could get hurt.

As the ash continued to fly from Cloud's body, his grunts slowly turned to screams of intense pain.

Tifa, with tears in her eyes, watched as Cloud stumbled around the café, until he collapsed onto the ground.

But then to her surprise, no more ash was seen flying from his form.

With a relieved sigh, she rushed over to his side as he started to slowly recover.

"Oh Cloud... you're okay..." she muttered, but then she noticed something out of the ordinary.

Strand of his blonde hair now had bits of silver here and there.

And she swore that the concentration was getting bigger.

And then Cloud slowly looked up to her.

"Good to see you... Lockhart."

Tifa's heart stopped almost immediately when she heard it.

His _voice_...

"No..." she thought in her mind, and then she made eye-contact with him.

His eyes... they were no longer dark-blue. They were emerald green with cat-like pupils.

"Those eyes..." she croaked out in sheer terror, "I-It can't be..."

He let out a callous smile and before she knew it, Tifa was sent flying by an explosion of fire.

She crashed right through the doors and made impact on the wall of the opposite building.

With a groan, Tifa collapsed onto the ground hard, which took the breath right out of her lungs.

As she slowly looked up with a pained grit of her teeth, she watched as he with his outstretched hand billowing with smoke, started to approach her.

As he did so, his body began to glow, and he began to undergo a metamorphosis.

Every aspect of Cloud's appearance disappeared, replaced by a black leather coat, long-silver hair, and a long katana blade.

His appearance became more of how Tifa remembered him when he burned down her district.

All the while he maintained his cruel smile at his opponent.

Stepping outside, he took a look around the street and inhaled a fresh intake of air.

"It truly is good to be back," he proclaimed.

"S-Sephiroth..." Tifa struggled to mutter out as she struggled to recover, "W-What did you do to Cloud?"

Sephiroth let out a 'hmph!'

"Nothing," he responded coldly, "Apparently he too was taken away by fate to the other side."

Tifa shook her head in disbelief, "I don't believe you, you liar."

"But can you prove it?" Sephiroth challenged, "You saw it as I saw it through his eyes. The ash that came from his body."

He watched with satisfaction, as Tifa's reaction slowly turned horrified by his revelation.

"So Cloud is..." she muttered, and barely registered the tears that were streaming down her face.

"But YOU should have gone with him!" she countered.

"You would be right," Sephiroth stated, "I am his darkness after all.. or was. You would do well to recall that in our last battle, your Light had a hand in helping Cloud sever his darkness from my own, which in turn weakened me. His darkness was the reason that I was trapped in his heart and with that said, we are no longer bound to each other. But now that Cloud is gone..."

As Tifa watched, Sephiroth began levitating into the air, his free arm outstretched outwards.

"... I am finally **free**..." he finished with a grin on his face.

Then from out of nowhere, someone called out from nearby, "Whoa! Check that dude out!"

Both he and Tifa turned to see a buffed teenage bully and his friends jeering at the former.

"Check out his ridiculously long hair!"

"Yeah! He looks like a girl in that getup!"

"More like a goth chick!"

"And his sword, where do I even start with it?!"

With slightly narrowed eyes of annoyance, Sephiroth flew right at them, with his sword pointing at the closest bully.

As Tifa watched helplessly, he cut down all of them in one fell swoop.

When he was done, all that remained were pools of blood, scattered body parts, and spilled organs and bones.

Sephiroth glanced back at her and smiled evilly, "We will meet again, Lockhart. For now, I must see through my goal of becoming a **god**."

His black right wing emerged from his back and with one flap, the One-Winged Angel ascended upwards into the clouds.

Leaving behind Tifa to slowly become demoralised and turn into an emotional train wreck.

* * *

Sora continued to watch on as the dust continued to fly out from different parts of the mainland.

From the main city, and from the suburban areas. No area was left untouched.

Clearly as a hero, he now needed to investigate the situation and find out what's wrong.

But before he could even do so, he heard Tidus crying out from behind him, "OMG! Wakka!"

He and the others turned to see what Tidus was staring at.

Wakka looked down at his arms and chest, and saw that ash was coming off from him.

"Oh man..." he muttered before in the next second, he was completely nothing but ash.

Everyone was stunned by what they had witnessed.

"What... just happened?" Kairi uttered out softly.

Selphie simply just shook her head in absolute confusion.

And then they heard Riku mutter out, "It's the end..."

Sora turned to him, "Riku, don't be so... is that...?"

Riku lifted up his arms for his friends to see.

He too was disintegrating into ash just like Wakka.

"Judgement Day has come..." he continued solemnly.

Sora gripped him at whatever part that hadn't disintegrated yet and yelled, "NO! RIKU!"

"Goodbye..." Riku bided, with a single tear rolling down his cheek before he completely disappeared.

Breathing hard, Sora looked down at the ash that he had caught.

It was all that was left of his closest friend.

By now, Kairi and Selphie were becoming increasingly disheartened by the passing of their friends, one-by-one.

The remaining four looked at one another, dreading who was the next one to go.

And then the answer came five seconds later.

"No... no more..." Selphie muttered as she looked right at him.

Kairi followed her gaze, and her heart stopped immediately.

Sora sighed with sadness as his feet started to turn to ash.

And it was spreading to the rest of him quickly.

"No! Sora..." Kairi cried out weakly as she gripped him in a tight hug, "No no no... not you too..."

Sora brushed a hand against the back of her head, "Kairi..."

Kairi was tearfully shaking her head furiously in denial, "No... please don't go... please please... don't go... please...!"

"Kairi..." Sora said again, this time a bit more firmly.

And then she saw a flash of light as Sora summoned something into his hand.

"Here, take this," he offered and placed it in Kairi's hands.

Kairi looked down at the object, and was surprised to see what it was.

"The Kingdom Key..." she muttered then looked up to him.

Sora nodded slowly, "The worlds may be in peril again already, if what's happening isn't a single event. I won't be there when it happens... but you will..."

Kairi was taken aback by this.

"How could you say that?! Everyone's dying all around us! Who's to say I'm not the next one to go after you?!"

With a humourless soft chuckle, Sora stroked her tear-stricken cheek, "I just know it."

His chest and arms had begun disintegrating.

"And Kairi..." he said to her with utmost genuine, "There's something... I've been meaning to tell you. From the bottom of my heart. From the very first moment that I met you all those years ago."

"What's that?" Kairi croaked out.

" _I love you..._ "

Almost immediately, Kairi became surprised by this, but slowly she smiled back sadly.

"I love you too, Sora..."

And then, just before Sora disintegrated completely, Kairi pulled him in for a passionate kiss on the lips.

Sora returned it and the couple remained in contact for but a fleeting moment.

It was at the last second that Sora pulled away from Kairi, just in time to gaze lovingly at her features one last time before his world turned black forever.

Kairi continued to stare out as the ash which once made up her friend was blown away by the sea breeze.

And then slowly, she collapsed onto her knees and finally broke down. The Kingdom Key clattered to the ground in front of her.

Selphie and Tidus quickly rushed to her side and knelt down beside her.

They too were as tearfully grief-stricken as Kairi was by that point.

And as they held on together as the ash dilemma continued, Kairi stared down at Sora's Keyblade in front of him, his legacy that she would promise to continue, and muttered out in a barely audible voice.

"Goodbye... Sora."

* * *

She had just finished her afternoon class for the day and had just arrived home from the school.

It did not take Ms Danvers long to witness what was happening across the city.

People were turning to ash. And those unaffected were letting their feelings be known.

At first, she became horrified by what she was seeing, but then she suspected that it could possibly be a universal crisis.

As she quickly set down her bag on the living room couch, she heard a beep coming from her room.

A familiar beep that was rarely heard.

Ms Danvers quickly brisked over to her room, and picked up a small item from her makeup table.

It was a pager, and unlike its more normal relatives, it was actually a distress beacon.

Staring hard at the mockingbird insignia on the small screen with grimness, Carol Danvers muttered out, "Hang in there, Fury. I'm on the case."

* * *

 **Man! What a chapter this has turned out to be! And this is quite possibly my longest entry into this series, longer that I had expected it to be!**

 **So to get down to a few points:**

 **Sephiroth's appearance is based on his appearance in the main Final Fantasy VII game (and his subsequent appearances in Final Fantasy media). Considering that his freakishly awesome outfit in the KH games are possibly because of his connection to Cloud, it seemed only fitting that now that he's separated from his rival, he adopts his original look from before their merging.**

 **This may sound biased, but I am a bit against Tetsuya Nomura's statement that Sora will be the main protagonist of the entire Kingdom Hearts series (even beyond the Xehanort Saga). In my opinion, that distinction ought to belong to someone else, maybe a new original character. But if the developers choose to go ahead with the established stars, then I sincerely believe the main protagonist role should be given to Kairi. After all, for most of the series thus far she has been in the shadows of her friends Sora and Riku, and her character and her story arc have been mistreated in the convolution of the current series' overall arc. And if she does survive Kingdom Hearts 3, I would most definitely nominate her to carry the franchise forwards into Kingdom Hearts 4 and beyond. I also would like to make it a point that Hayden Panettiere was terrific as a more matured Kairi in Kingdom Hearts 2, and depending on her current condition I would be happy if she returned to reprise her role in the future.**

 **Also hooray! There's finally some tie-in with Avengers: Infinity War in this story!**

 **Final chapter will be coming soon, so stick around for everything to be rounded up!**

 **See you guys next time!**


	8. A New Sorceress

**At last! The final chapter is here! After all the tragedy that has happened, is there still a glimmer of hope on the horizon for our beloved heroes? Well, you will have to find out by reading this one.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Silence apprehended her thoughts and feelings as she stared down at the triangular-shaped blue hat.

The hat that formerly belonged to her master.

Crescent moon, stars and all.

The first time she had laid eyes on it was when she had first set foot on his world.

Master Yen Sid had taken her under his wing when she was just five-years-old.

At that time, her mother had perished in a car accident on her world, and she and her father had grown far apart by the time the sorcerer visited her world.

When he found her, she was practically an orphan, living in a stranger's household.

And when Yen Sid offered her a tutelage in sorcery, she was at first hesitant.

Despite the fact her father probably did not care much for her anymore, as a daughter she just could not leave him.

But then her thoughts went back to her mother, and on the second time he offered she agreed with a silent nod.

From the beginning, Yen Sid drilled into her the mentality and mindset that were required to control magic properly.

And aside from basic spells, she had also went through gruelling physical tasks.

Carry water-filled pails being Master Yen Sid's favourite.

And whenever she voiced out informal complaints or if she was not moving fast enough for her Master's liking, the response she got was the same thing.

A hit on the butt with a broomstick.

But overtime, she became accustomed to all of the rough and tough labor.

And through these physical trainings, Yen Sid had successfully taught her how to apply these skills to using magic.

By the time she was sixteen, she had become a master of advanced sorcery.

The year following that saw her becoming the youngest known individual to ever attain the title of Sorceress.

For a time after she attained her title, she became engrossed in learning all sorts of new spells and techniques, which saved her on multiple occasions when she had a run-in with the Heartless.

But when she was twenty, she decided to put her knowledge to good use.

She started searching for an apprentice.

Luckily for her, Yen Sid had counselled her that the age requirement for taking in a pupil would be around children years.

Meaning, she had to take in one whose age ranged from four to twelve.

But that left her with a problem.

In all the worlds she had visited, all the of children that she would come across, had parents that were less than eager to entrust them to her.

Heck, there were even some incidents that she had been labelled a witch by various communities, and that they threatened her to leave or else she would be burned at the stake.

Over the course of merely a few months, her focus had narrowed down to just a single world, and by that point she had almost given up on her goal.

But it quickly changed, when she stumbled upon a fifteen-year-old girl.

Doomed to a life of slavery by an authoritarian empire, she had been brainwashed against her will to slaughter innocents with her powers.

Wait, powers?!

As she had discovered, the girl was apparently a magic user, but given that she constantly expressed little to no emotion, it was clear that the girl had been brainwashed against her own will.

Whether or not she thought her plan through or not, she could not say, but on that night she had staged a rescue of the girl.

It was successful, but it also drew the attention of the regime, and especially some annoying commander who was dressed like a clown.

She put up a strong fight against her enemies, which gave her enough room to escape the world with the girl.

She took the child to a world that existed in the Realm Between.

A safe haven for refugees that had lost their worlds to the darkness.

But of course, she had a secret area to herself, and so when she arrived she started attending to the girl's accommodations.

After she had settled down, the girl spent time communicating with her.

She explained that it was because of her 'long service' she had lost her memories.

It was then explained to her that she possessed great powers which had been unwillingly used as a weapon for evil purposes.

But after she was offered a chance to learn how to control and use them properly, the girl agreed.

Sure she was way above what Yen Sid specified, but she would have to do.

And so for three years, she trained the girl the best that she could, while at the same time trying not to be like Master Yen Sid.

Whenever the girl had any trouble, she would be kind enough to teach her slowly.

If there were any complaints to be addressed, she would relax the training slightly.

And because of the way she groomed the girl, she in-turn came to view her as a motherly figure.

And while she on the other way did not admit it, she too saw the girl like her own daughter.

Thus a strong bond was formed between the two, and by the time she turned eighteen, the girl had regained all of her memories and had better mastery over her own powers.

And that was when the call was made by Master Yen Sid to return to his tower.

The pair went over to the Mysterious Tower, and there she introduced him to her apprentice.

Of course she apologised that the girl was over the age limit, but Yen Sid reassured that it was alright, as long as the girl was taught properly.

And then the girl was dismissed from the room, allowing Yen Sid time to communicate with his former apprentice.

He went straight to the point, and told her of his intentions to retire from sorcery.

She was also told that he would pass on ownership of his tower over to her, and stated that it was time that a younger sorcerer carried on his legacy.

Surprised and shocked, immediately questions began to come out of her mouth.

But that it was when it happened.

Almost as quickly, she watched as her beloved Master disintegrated before her eyes, with his last words being that she remained strong and steadfast to her heart.

... which now brought her to this moment.

Her fingers brushed against the soft material that made up the blue hat, and slowly she allowed the tears to fall.

In her state of consciousness, her mind was replaying every moment that she had spent with her Master.

From the moment he first laid eyes on her, to him giving her the title of sorceress.

The memories were too much to bear, and she could not stand it.

"Master!" the voice of her pupil called out to her, "Master Rinoa!"

Quickly pulled out of her emotional hole, Rinoa rose up from the Master's Chair and went on over to the window behind it.

Peering down, she caught sight of her student waving up to her beside a pile of ash and a couple of bottle-sized crystals.

"Everything's in place!" she reported, "All we need now is the urn!"

With a slight nod of her head, Rinoa casually saluted her apprentice on a job well done.

Walking over to the nearby shelf, Rinoa took hold of an urn coloured in white and decorated in blue crescent moons and stars.

According to Yen Sid, the urn was used for sacred reasons, either to house a spirit of evil or to contain the ashes of deceased sorcerers.

Even to this day she could not help but shudder at having her own ashes being stuffed into an urn like this one.

Briskly, she strode down the spiral staircase until she arrived at ground level.

She headed outside to greet her apprentice who was curtsying in a gesture of respect.

Rinoa shook her head with a small smile, "Terra Branford. I told that you don't have to be so formal around me."

Terra looked up to her, "But I insist, Master. Otherwise I would go to sleep feeling ashamed by displaying lack of respect."

"Oh... I'm sure you would," Rinoa replied back playfully, "Judging from how you snore at night."

Taken aback by her comment, Terra bashfully rubbed her neck.

Rinoa giggled and patted at her shoulder, "As I said before Terra, common courtesy is more than enough to convey respect to others. Now come, this is something that you'll want to pay attention to."

She led her apprentice over to the crystals and the ashes, and she placed the urn in front of them.

"This is a sacred ritual that is only performed when sorcerers either pass on or fall in battle," she explained to Terra, "And when that happens, we honor them by housing their ashes in the Hall of Mages."

"Hall of Mages?" Terra questioned with intrigue.

Rinoa nodded as she focused her attention of the pile before her, "It's a location that only sorcerers are aware of. When we are done here, we shall depart for it."

Closing her eyes in concentration, Rinoa slowly lifted up her hands.

In order for the ritual to work, her mind had to been anchored to the best memory of her Master, as well as the most painful memory.

And so at once, she recalled the time that she and Master Yen Sid sat down at the top of the Clock Tower overlooking Twilight Town, and the first day that she had started carrying buckets of water, and doubled down on them both.

She felt energy coursing through the veins of her arms, and she channelled them telepathically into the crystals.

As Terra watched, the crystals started to give off a light aura and were levitating off the ground.

They floated in a circle around the ashes for a moment before Rinoa began to move her outstretched arms closer together.

The crystals began swirling around the ashes, and the air flow inside began to pick up.

And slowly, the ashes began flying around near the boundaries of the mini-tornado that was formed.

All as Rinoa struggled to maintain focus on those precious memories in her mind.

She could recall that rare laughter from her Master.

The pain the burned the muscles in her arms as she carried her tenth pair of buckets.

The smile on his face as they watched the twilight sky together.

Rinoa's tears were flowing down freely and profusely as her emotions began to consume her.

As the swirling mess of bright crystals and ash became more erratic, Terra was starting to become worried that her Master was losing control of herself.

But just before she could even contemplate rushing over to help, Rinoa's hands clasped together hard.

And then the tornado stopped swirling.

With the greatest of ease, Rinoa gracefully directed the ash which began flowing into the urn.

And when the item was fully filled, the tearful sorceress lowered her hands.

The crystals dropped back to the ground, the light emanating from them completely gone.

And just like that, Rinoa fell to her knees and began crying out in sorrow.

"M-Master..." she croaked out through her sobs.

With a pitiful expression, Terra slowly went over to her Master's side, and knelt down to her level.

And like a cuddly teddy bear, she wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly.

For a brief moment, they both were not viewed as Master and apprentice.

Instead, they became more like close friends, with one comforting the other out of the warm kindness of her heart.

But as emotional as it was, fate would not allow it to last.

"My my..." the voice of a teenage boy remarked with a small chuckle, "Looks like Angel Wings' got a soft side too."

Hearing him prompted Rinoa and Terra to turn and look at him and his cocky grin.

Recognising him, Rinoa frowned in agitation and got to her feet.

"By the way, quite the performance with that magic trick," the boy remarked further, "Looks like the old man's drilled something that you actually paid attention too."

"What are you doing here, Joshua?" Rinoa questioned him as she slowly advanced towards him, "Still trying to see who's white wings are bigger?"

Joshua scoffed lightly, "Oh please! You're still whiny over that little petty squabble? Why? Because of my comment that my wings are just more _extravagant_ than yours?"

"That's crap and you know it!" Rinoa snapped, "Wings don't even fit boys anyway!"

"Really? Then I don't suppose you've met Sephiroth yet?" Joshua replied with a flick of his hand at strands of his hair, "He's got one wing only, and he still looks cooler than you."

Rinoa's eyes twitched at his statement.

"Why you little..." she growled as she and Joshua had an intense stare down.

Terra looked on with much anxiety but then caught a flicker of light from the corner of her eye.

"Master! Watch out!" she cried out as a ball of light came out of nowhere and right in Rinoa's direction.

But as though she sensed it coming, Rinoa stretched out her hand in reflex, and she caught it in her palm.

Breaking contact from the jerk of a teenage kid momentarily, she stared down at the item in her hands with surprise.

"This is..." she muttered softly as Terra joined at her side to peer at the star-shaped object.

Glancing at Joshua one more time, Rinoa instructed her apprentice, "Keep him occupied for a moment for me, Terra. I won't be long."

As she walked off, she ignored Joshua's comment, "Oh don't worry about me, woman! I know how to strike up a conversation!"

His attention was turned to Terra, and already she was feeling uncomfortable under his frighteningly cheerful gaze.

"So... you must be Angel Wings' prized student, eh?" he asked her with a maddening grin.

Gulping down a lump in her throat, Terra waved with a nervous giggle, "Uh... hello...?" She was subconsciously taking a few steps back from the teen.

Meanwhile nearby, Rinoa had her eyes closed and was in deep concentration.

Her grip on the Star Shard had tightened and it was glowing with her connection to the D-Link.

Many questions were going through her confused mind.

Didn't the Star Shard belong to Mickey?

Why did he sent it to her?

Was something happening out there that required her attention?

And then she heard Mickey's voice.

But from how he was mentioned things, he must have recorded it beforehand.

As the seconds wore on, her features turned horrified, then serious.

And then all of a sudden, her eyes snapped open and she let out a gasp.

Hearing it, Terra instinctively jogged over to her, relieved by not having to entertain Joshua anymore.

"Master? What's the matter?" she asked worriedly once she saw the look on her Master's face, "Is there something wrong?"

Rinoa glanced and stared hard into her pupil's eyes.

"Yes... there is..." she replied hoarsely.

Regaining her composure, Rinoa suddenly became serious. Too serious for Terra's liking.

"Terra, do you remember Destiny Islands?" Rinoa asked her apprentice.

Terra nodded, "Yes, Master. We were there to practise a bit of blizzard spells." She became concerned, "Why?"

Rinoa turned to look up at the stars, her gaze becoming hardened with grimness.

"I need you to go there immediately," she instructed her, "Find a girl named Kairi and bring her here at once."

In obedience, Terra bowed before her Master and quickly raced off.

Joshua stepped forwards, a skeptical look in his eyes.

"Kairi?" he questioned, "What could you possibly need a Keyblade wielder for?"

Rinoa turned to him with narrowed eyes.

"Because Thanos has made his move. We need to make ours quickly, with the Philosopher's Key."

* * *

 **Reconnect**

 **KINGDOM HEARTS**

* * *

 **And there we have it! We have finally come to the end of this clusterfuck of one-shots! Bring out the tissues and start crying over the casualties of a Mad Titan!**

 **As for the inclusion of Rinoa in this chapter, I owe it to HeartofFyrwinde for the suggestion. When it was made, it started to trigger in my thinking that "Yeah, that could work!" Considering that many characters were killed off, it also gave me a chance to do away Master Yen Sid. Not because I wanted to be more of a douche than I already am now, but because I realised that his death was pivotal in the grander scheme of things. And because of Rinoa's backstory in FFVIII, I had a clear inspiration of how I could include her. With Yen Sid's passing, Rinoa would take over his role as the new sorcerer that would take part in the series' next overall story arc, which is quite fitting. HeartofFyrwinde, this one's for you!**

 **And yes! Terra Branford's also now part of this Kingdom Hearts AU! Hooray! Honestly, when I was planning for Rinoa, Terra also came to my mind as quickly. This is because considering the dynamic that Yen Sid had with his former apprentice Mickey, since Terra is a powerful (but young) magic user it seemed only fitting for her to be in the apprentice role for Rinoa. After all in FFVI, she too had problems with controlling her abilities throughout much of the story and that she needed to learn slowly. Rinoa would be a perfect teacher for Terra since she is kind-hearted, compassionate and warm to those close to her. Both would be a perfect balance of one another.**

 **This last chapter is also in fact a preview for potentially a story to follow-up on this series. And to (finally) answer make3zons's question, we shall wait and see how Avengers 4 wraps up the whole Thanos dilemma, although I can assure you that whatever ending Kingdom Hearts 3 has will not affect this series. As much as I would rather wish to write my own conclusion for Avenger 4, I thought it best to 'canon-ize' the whole story arc. But that's just an early thought. We will see how this goes in the future!**

* * *

 **With that said, thank you all for reading this series, and for all of your feedback! Your reviews truly encouraged me to push forwards all the way to the end!**

 **If you guys have time, feel free to check out my other story "A Princess' Nobody" (might change that title in the near-future) which I will be continuing on from this point onwards.  
**

 **Also, I will be posting a Final Fantasy/Avengers AU story and unfortunately, its plot is somewhat inspired by Infinity War as well.**

 **Until next time! See ya real soon!**


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